I teach on how to go fast. With the teams and ecosystems, I work with. And to go fast, one has to go well. Going well is practicing the art and craft well as a deep practioner and as a craftsman. Not cutting corners. Caring deeply about what one does. Then, one can go fast. I often borrow a “software development” quote that reinforces this concept deeply.

“The only way to go fast, is to go well.”

― Robert C. Martin, Clean Architecture

Now, recently I saw a quote that is supposedly an old African proverb. But I could not find its source or its lineage. Seems to be misattributed and made up, but all the same very relevant in today’s conversation.

"If you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go together."

— Supposed African saying (disputed)

So essentially it is two things to go fast. You gotta go well. You gotta go together “as a team” - as one cannot do the bigs things alone.

So I synthesize both into a single quote that conveys both the meanings:

The only way to go fast and farther, is to go well and together. And to go well together.