Improvement is driven either by an unsubstantiated instinct that things could be better and this is tractable, or by having seen a superior situation and learning from it.

For either case, it natural that incremental improvement is going to seem a more tractable goal than razing the current system and starting from first principles. Usually, the urge to build upon what already works is a good one if something has proven its worth it would be nonsensical to throw it out.

There are problems where, if one wants to take the next step, a new method is required. If the goal was to get to the moon, a determined man might climb the tallest mountain on Earth but to achieve the goal he will have to descend and build a rocket. This describes a revolution in the approach which is occasionally necessary; knowing when this is the case is what distinguishes the good companies from the great, as well as the unproductive extremists from the true progressives.