They aren't exactly the same thing, but there is a high correlation between please-do-the-impossible and yet-another-plan-to-save-the-company. When I was at SGI in the late 90s, there was a lot of both. I figured out after awhile that my own BS-meter was well tuned, and if it seemed like the execs were high, they probably were.

So my advice to new engineers: by all means, try to do the impossible. But if they keep asking you to do it, and you can't even figure out why it will matter if you succeed... there are probably better jobs out there.