Good is an adjective that typically refers to health or spirits: The biscuits taste good; I’m feeling pretty good today. But it can also mean that something is worthwhile: The book was a good read; the movie was a good film.

In the philosophical field of ethics, a good is a morally worthy goal or action: The movie was a good idea for a movie. He was a good man and never hurt anybody. John Rawls’ A Theory of Justice prioritized social arrangements and goods, arguing that a just society would maximize the welfare of its members, without consideration for personal facts about them: People who are blind to their negative traits, such as bad leadership, may have a hard time being good citizens.

It can be difficult to stand out from a sea of articles online, especially with so many competing for readers’ attention. A good article has a twist or an angle that will grab the reader’s interest and make them want to read more. This might be a surprising fact, an interesting quote or statistic, or a witty line. Often, the best way to do this is to start with an attention-grabbing headline.

When writing an article, it’s important to keep the reader in mind: their problems, questions, pain points, happiness, dreams. The closer the article is to these things, the more likely it will be good. It’s also important to avoid being preachy or judging: an effective article should be neutral, and it should represent all viewpoints fairly and without bias.

The most common use of the word good is as an adjective after linking verbs: It tastes good; The biscuits look good; I’m feeling good. It is also commonly used as an adverb after forms of do, although this is less common in formal speech and edited writing: He did well on the test; She sees well with her new glasses. Good can also be a predicate adjective after feel: I’m feeling good about the future.

One of the most interesting uses of the word good is in Jim Collins’ study of companies that went from good to great: He found that good-to-great companies shared certain characteristics. To make the transformation, a company had to be willing to do what it took: It had to sell its mills, for example. In the end, a company that did so gained a tremendous competitive advantage.

In his book, Collins also talked about the kind of leadership required to transform a good company into a great one. He compared the leaders of good-to-great companies to hedgehogs, who know one big thing. Like thinkers who boil complex ideas down to simple ones, such as Adam Smith’s invisible hand or Darwin’s evolution, the leaders of good-to-great companies develop a Hedgehog Concept that unites and organizes all their decisions. It is not, as some critics have charged, simplistic; rather, it reflects penetrating insight and deep understanding.