Category Archives: Work

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How to Set Yourself Apart as a Leader

There are leaders everywhere. But, there aren’t great leaders everywhere. A great leader doesn’t need recognition or reward to be considered great. What a great leader needs is simply great effectiveness. Great effectiveness comes from great accountability which comes from the drive from a leader to set themselves apart from who they were in light of who they can become.

Leadership is not equal, because effectiveness is not equal. What you see in sports is simply that one leader can get something out of players that another did not or one leader sees something in a player that another leader missed. All too often, a coach comes in and replaces a truly effective leader only to not get any where near the same results. The solution is suddenly to get new players. Then, those players don’t get the results the coach or manager wants then the coach is sacked. Then, the cycle of effectiveness starts over. If you truly want to measure leadership, then measure effectiveness. Don’t measure effectiveness of promise, but effectiveness of production. What you produce is ultimately the measure of how you lead.

There are several ways to set yourself apart as a leader.

1) Out work every one else. Hard work in our society used to be the norm. That is no longer the case. A work ethic is taught and modeled. Work ethic starts in childhood. Children who aren’t made to work will not grow up to be adults who love hard work. Children who have parents who don’t model working hard rarely grow up to be hard working adults. But, work ethic is the measure of energy given to complete a task combined with the values one holds while completing that task. If you want to set yourself apart, out work everyone else. Simply, arrive earlier and stay later. Put the work in outside the actual job to become more effective at your job.

2) Be your own toughest critic. Most humans don’t like criticism especially when it involves what they are producing. But, if you want to set yourself apart from others, then learn to be hard on yourself. Don’t give yourself passes, excuses or liberties. Learn to be tough on yourself, so when others criticize you or your work, you can accept it as merely objective, learn from it and move on.

3) Have impeccable integrity. Integrity is the measure of authenticity in your life. Today our world is filled with duplicity and deception. Great integrity ultimately means great trustworthiness. The most effective leader ever, Jesus, said, “Let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no’.” Simply, be a leader whose word means something, who is incredibly consistent and who doesn’t flip flop when communicating direction or decision. Impeccable integrity creates great bonds of trust.

4) Get out of your feelings. Emotion clouds an effective leader from making the best decisions. I am not advocating to never have or show emotion, but a truly effective leader must learn to master their emotions. This means you must learn to control your emotion. Every emotion you have is not the right emotion at the right time. Just because something feels right doesn’t make it right. Leaders who lead by feeling will discount their effectiveness because allowing your feelings to lead means feelings are first and others are second. Feelings will always rise to the top until you push them to the bottom. I have seen many developing leaders leave the organization because they couldn’t get past their own feelings of superiority, inferiority and not feeling appreciated.

5) Have the best attitude. Negativity is a stench that no one wears well. The problem with negativity is that humans are by nature drawn towards the negative. The average person has to work not to be negative. To really separate yourself from your peers or increase your leadership influence, then have the best attitude. I am not advocating blind positivity, but rather measured and consistent positivity. The best attitude is a combination of where a calm spirit meets an energetic soul. When things get difficult remain positive. Don’t pollute the air with negative speech or negative talk. When you hear negativity in your environment cut it off. Negativity spreads but so does positivity, but there are fewer positive people around so it constantly seems like a battle with negativity. However, it is more likely that teams will follow a positive leader than will ever follow a negative one.

6) Take the blame, share the credit. Ineffective leaders always want to be recognized and get credit for what they are doing. But, effective leaders have learned to take the blame and share the credit. Taking the blame as a leader is not just the noble thing to do, but the right thing to do. A leader has elevated responsibility and elevated accountability. Today, many leaders just want the responsibility without the accountability. A leader is not only known by the results they get, but also the people that they produce. If you want to increase effectiveness, then share the credit when things go well and they by-product is you will increase your loyalty among those you work with. To share credit, you have to give credit. Find those on your team who deserve some recognition and give them the credit.

7) Be the most appreciative. In a self-centered world, very few people express gratitude. Gratitude is thankfulness and to be thankful you have to actually do something that reveals you are thankful. This means you actually say ‘thank you’ to those around you, you write a ‘thank you’ note or send a ‘thank you’ text. To be thankful, you have to actually train yourself to see what is positive, what is helpful and who is putting forth the effort. It is important to tell those who you are leading that you appreciate them. It is not enough for you to just think “Well, they know I am thankful.” To increase your effectiveness as a leader, you must show them that you are actually thankful.

8) Wear humility well. No one wears pride well. Arrogance like a bad attitude stinks. But humility is a fragrance that everyone wears well. Most leaders struggle with pride. It’s part of what has helped them succeed. However, their drive and passion, can easily be replaced by self-assurance and arrogance, which is distasteful and ineffective. Humility on the other hand is a beautiful trait that leaders must discipline themselves to practice at all times and in all situations. Humble leaders serve better, lead better and look better than proud leaders. A humble leader has learned to get their own ego out of the way so they can see others and see decisions with greater clarity, which increases their overall effectiveness. Humility also means if you fall you are much closer to the ground and it a much less painful drop.

9) Be a life-long learner. Never feel like you have arrived. Always take the attitude of one who is just starting out. When you get some praise or acclaim push it away and drive yourself to continue to learn. It is easy to have to learn when you are starting out. But, as you gain more leadership influence and leadership ground it requires much greater intentionality to continue to learn. Taking the attitude of a student, puts the leader in a position to be a better listener. Good learners are good listeners. Leaders who are poor listeners decrease their effectiveness. Leaders who are good listeners make better decisions and can read people and situations better. Students also study. It is important to do not do what you think is best, but study your organization and learn what success looks like in your organization, but what you think it looks like.

10) Get really good at the details. Too many leaders skip over the details because they are focused on “the bigger picture.” This is a mistake if you want to increase your effectiveness. Excellence is found in the details. It’s the small things that determine the consistency of the big things. Too many leaders see themselves as visionaries and “big picture” people, yet they have never disciplined themselves to know the details and uphold them. Vision is important, but vision is not the key to excellence. Desire is also not the key to excellence. Your vision and your desire may paint great dreams, but they do little to increase your effectiveness. Attention to detail is a critical trait that has immense power to multiply a leader’s effectiveness.

These ten things are not a comprehensive list, but they will most certainly increase your effectiveness as a leader if you begin to practice as many of them as possible with as much consistency as possible. Great effectiveness requires great responsibility. And great responsibility comes at a price.

“The price of greatness is responsibility” – Winston Churchill

 

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I’m Done with Development

Growth Over Development

I have stopped doing development. I have stopped talking about development.  I have stopped “developing” people. I don’t talk about development and my leaders aren’t allowed to talk about it around me. I have started talking about one thing and one thing only: growth.

Andra’s Story

I once had a young man who worked for me named Andra (Ahn-drey). He had an awesome smile, great sense of humor and a strong work ethic. Everyone (including my family and I) loved Andra. He was the kind of guy that laughed at himself, laughed at your jokes and still got his work done. Andra didn’t know where he wanted to go or what he wanted to do with his life. After a few months on the job, Andra stopped growing. In fact, he thought he was doing better than he was. We had some tough conversations, some job reassignments and, eventually, a distinct challenge to either grow or go. See, life is not about potential or development, life is about growth. Andra had to grow, but he was stuck. Andra had a special place in our hearts, but his performance was not where we all (including Andra) knew it could be. Andra decided he was going to grow. His attitude, his effort and his discipline changed. He made no more excuses and began, to not only get results, but hold others accountable. Andra grew into leadership. And he kept growing. He accepted each challenge and eventually landed a job at the sheriff’s office. I could not be prouder of Andra, because Andra chose to grow for himself and it benefitted those around him. Good growth always has a benefit or byproduct for those around y0u. Andra’s story is not one of development, opportunity or potential, but growth. And growth is what is missing from so many leaders’ stories today. Seemingly, there is plenty of “development,” but very little, real growth.

The Impossibility of Development

I find that development now is practically immeasurable, unreachable and, largely, a piece of organizational jargon. Development has become a catch-all term for a generation that doesn’t know how to grow. Development started as growth. But, somewhere in a sea of sea of self-importance, self-centeredness and a lack of self-awareness, development became the leader’s responsibility and not the followers. Simultaneously, the timeless principles of growth have been cast to the side in favor of an endless self-identification and emotion. Development, by today’s standards, has become an almost unsolvable puzzle that is simply escalating the frustration of both the leader and the follower, the teacher and the student, & the mentor and apprentice.

The Leader’s Job is Not Development

It is not the leader’s job to develop people. It is the leader’s responsibility to create an environment of both challenge and encouragement that fosters an arena for growth in the lives of the followers. No one can make another person develop. Development is always individual and it’s always personal. Now as a leader, you will need more leaders. But, before you need leadership development, you need personal growth. Growth is the elevator that takes you higher, improves your perspective, widens your thinking and deepens your understanding of others. Growth is what is missing from so many development programs. Growth is never a box to check or an assignment to finish. Growth is the distance you have gained over time from one point to another. Growth is where your muscle, your fortitude and your resilience are born. Growth is not a promotion. Growth paves the path for promotion. You can get a promotion and not grow at all.

Modern development has become largely irresponsible and immeasurable. It is irresponsible because somewhere in the last few decades development shifted from personal-responsibility to another’s responsibility. When I went to my dad at 16 years old to tell him I was going to quit working at Chick-fil-A, he said, “You want out of the dish room? Then work your way out!” He didn’t say, “Alex you should go ask your boss for a development plan and if he doesn’t respond, then quit because he doesn’t value you.” The reason that it has become immeasurable is because society has created a system where everybody can win and no one can lose. Success for me at 16 years old was simply getting out of the dish room making $4.25 an hour. Success for me was my first raise was $0.15 up to $4.40 an hour. The metrics of success have changed, and thus, instead of teaching people how to win we started talking about development. This subtle shift is the reason why there are so few people truly growing into leadership. Because, I stayed, suffered and sweated, I found success, because I grew into it.

Leaders are not Developed, They are Grown

We must back up or we are shortly going to find ourselves in an even greater vacuum of leaders. Leaders are not developed, they are grown. Development means very little any more, except as a leader, it is now your responsibility to see that everyone, at every time and for every position gets their individual developmental needs met. This is untenable, unrealistic and, frankly, impossible. It is the responsibility of the follower to grow as a leader, not the leader to develop the follower. The leader must create an atmosphere that accelerates and refines the growth process. Development has become invisible and intangible. Growth is visible and tangible. You can mark, chart and track growth. Development has become all things to all people and thus it means very little. Growth is real and undeniable.

Leaders aren’t developed in a crib, they are grow in a contest. Leaders have to be able win or lose. And they can’t all win. Losing is the pallet for self-reflection and self-assessment. We need teachers not nursery workers. The reason there is so much immaturity in our work force is that we have coddled an entire generation of should-be leaders by giving them nothing to win by working for it and allowing them advancement without sacrifice, commitment or suffering. Failure is one of strangest and greatest teachers of God Almighty for his humble creatures. Failure places you against you and you against others. Failure if viewed with objectivity is a lens that can actually clarify where you need to grow and why you need to grow. Without failure, there is no real or sustainable growth. Organizations that eliminate failure are actually retarding growth and devaluing victory. Life is a contest and the best leaders grow out of great contests.

Jack Welch’s Principle of Differentiation

The first error is teaching followers that everyone can be a leader. That is false. Everyone will not and cannot win. We have lost the principle of what Jack Welch called “differentiation.” Listen to what Welch said, “But differentiation is all about being extreme, rewarding the best and weeding out the ineffective. Rigorous differentiation delivers real stars—and stars build great businesses.” I strongly suggest you and your leaders read “Jack” by Jack Welch. Yes, everyone is equal in value in God’s eyes, but not everyone is equal in gifting, skills and abilities. Real stars require the polish of conflict, the rub of challenge and the shine of victory.

We may pretend not to like this statement, but all we have to do is look no further than professional sports to see how true this is: Home run hitters, strike out pitchers, long distance shooters, really fast runners, goal scorers, touchdown throwers, and trophy winners all make more money or longer periods of time than those who do not have those skills.

Welch continues, “They say that differential treatment erodes the very idea of teamwork. Not in my world. You build strong teams by treating individuals differently. Just look at the way baseball teams pay 20-game winning pitchers and 40-plus home run hitters. The relative contributions of those players are easy to measure—their stats jump out at you—yet they are still part of a team.”

Mediocrity: The Erosion of Excellence

If you want to erode excellence, then treat and compensate everyone the exact same. All you will get is mediocrity. People need something to work for and something to win. They need to feel the pain of defeat and the frustration of failure. Some of the greatest teachers on the earth are the invaluable elements of pain and frustration. Because, both of these allow a man or woman to measure their ability against their desire and see the truth of where they really stand and where they need to grow.

I’m Divorcing Development and Going Back to Growth

Development is now becoming impossible to measure, because development is now in the eyes of the beholder. However, growth is entirely possible to measure. The measurements of growth are set by the leader not the follower. I’m divorcing development and going back to growth.

I have simply had too many young, growing leaders demand that “I develop them.” Well, I’m done. I’m more than happy to help them grow, but I cannot meet an ever-moving target of their own design of what their development should look like. The Bible says the leach says “more, more” and that is exactly what development has become. There is simply too much information, too little adversity combined with too much impatience to meet the “more, more” modern expectations of development.

So, I’m going back to growth. I’m going to do what I’ve always done, and I’m going to reset the expectations of those in my organization: “I will help you grow, but your development is your responsibility.” I will meet, track and chart growth. I will not try to meet a moving end line that only sucks up my time and my leaders’ time and leaves both of us feeling used and unappreciated.

I will tell my followers, “I am here to help and see them grow, but their personal development is on your their shoulders not mine.” Development is now being demanded as if it is a follower’s right to demand from a leader —- it is not. Development is time-consuming, costly and difficult. It is a privilege. Most people no longer understand or accept that. So, it’s time to hearken back to whence we came: growth.

Growth and Effort

The great equalizer for a lack of anything (skills, talent or ability) is effort. Growth is always directly related to effort. There are other factors as well of course, but the driving force in growth is effort. And what I see and what I find, is that many young aspiring leaders are simply unwilling to put up or even match the kind of effort needed to actually produce growth.

I believe, growth is a distance measured over time. And I believe, development has become a position to be gained as quickly as possible. Most good growth requires time. Time demands effort and patience. You cannot jump to growth, but you can jump to a position. This is why development is much more attractive than growth. There are no shortcuts to success. But, many in today’s generations believe that they deserve success quickly, can already do your job and if you cared about them you’d spend all your time developing them.

The principles of growing people haven’t changed in thousands of years of human existence, but our access to information has. In fact, the younger generations, not only have more access to information than you, they know how to use and manipulate it better. Today’s younger generations are better informed on how to lead people, but poorer prepared to actually lead them because they are largely untested and immature (lacking mature growth).

Growth is always measured in the test. The Apostle Paul, arguably one of the world’s greatest leaders and builders of a worldwide organization (the Church) said regarding leaders, “And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless” (1 Timothy 3:10). Followers who aren’t tested by adversity and prove themselves aren’t worthy to be leaders. It is simple. Modern development has failed to adequately test the novice, immature leaders.

Tell them the Truth

Finally, growth requires the truth. Modern development has made it too easy to ignore the truth, excuse the truth or confuse the truth. If you want to see people grow in your organization, then you must tell them the truth, especially when it is offensive to them. You have to be willing to hurt their feelings, make things uncomfortable or upset their plans because you love them and want to see them grow up. The truth is always offensive to error. Error, and much of it, is found in inexperience and immaturity. Relentless pursuit of the truth and relentless speaking of the truth will create an environment where growth is the only option. I tell every person that I hire in our final interview process, “Growth is not optional: you will either grow or you will go.”

Regarding truth, the Bible says in Proverbs, “Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding” (23:23). Real growth requires real truth, not your truth, his truth or her truth. If the people in your organization do not want to hear the truth, then they have no business working for you. If you need help knowing when to let people go, then you need to read the book “Necessary Endings” “by Dr. Henry Cloud.

Prepare a Table

In order to help someone else grow you have to first feed yourself. Others grow best out of your overflow. The problem today is that so many leaders are empty. Empty, either because, they have not learned to feed themselves or because they are so run down, they have nothing left to share. A chef does not make food to not share. The chef makes food to share. But, the chef has to learn how to select the food, prepare the food and present the food so that others may partake out of his mastery. Prepare the table, prepare the fare and then, invite others to eat with you.

This is what every leader should be doing: learn how to feed yourself so that you have food to share with others and a time and place to share with them. The point of investment is to produce a return: both in yourself and others.

You must water plants in order for them to grow. You are the watering can. You are the hose. You are not the water. Share with what you have learned. Share with what you possess and create an environment that is rich for others to grow in.

Finally, there is no growth without a test. If you want strong leaders, make strong tests. Growth is a high bar you either measure up to or you don’t. If you want growth, don’t lower the bar. If you want leaders, grow disciples. Growth is hard work. Growth is never quick and never easy. Good growth takes time, truth, repetition, individual effort and a skilled teacher. Good ole fashioned growth will never be beaten by modern development.

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Results and How to Get Them

Results are the outcome of your efforts. The majority of people want better results, but most aren’t willing to put the work in and increase their effort to get their desired result or better. The best results are hard to get.

It’s not enough to want, strategize and dream of great results. The greatest results are most often a product of your greatest efforts. You want better results at work, then increase your effort and involvement. You want better results in your relationships, then invest more and give more effort. In life, you make a grave mistake when you take results for granted or expect them to happen just by wishful thinking. Great results require great work. And great work is growing increasingly rarer and rarer.

Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player to ever play the game that I’ve ever seen, said, “I’ve always believed if you put the work in, then the results will come.” Everyone wants to get the results they want, but not every one knows how to get those results. Jordan was not only supremely talented, surrounded by an outstanding team, but he was also legendary in the work he put in to get the results he wanted. Jordan was transcendent. He didn’t rest on his talent or his opportunity. He maximized his results by putting the work in.

Coach Roy Williams, who was Jordan’s assistant coach under the hall-of-famer and coaching legend Dean Smith, said that Michael told him as a freshman, “I’m going to show you. Nobody will ever work as hard as I do.” Michael Jordan, who famously got cut one year from his high school basketball team, would go on and win championships in both in college and professionally. Jordan would say, “I don’t do things half-heartedly. Because I know if I do, then I can expect half-hearted results.” One of my favorite scriptures is what the Apostle Paul wrote, “Whatever you do, do with all your heart as to the Lord and not unto men” (Colossians 3:23). If you are half-hearted, then you will most certainly never give maximum effort nor achieve your greatest results.

I have been developing as a leader and developing leaders for nearly three decades and one thing has been consistent: those who put the work in with their whole heart always get better results than those that don’t. I can trace those who I have worked with and those who have worked for me who have gone on with really successful careers even at young ages and they have all worked harder than everyone else in the organization. I am not talking about simply showing up for work. I have seen some really faithful people who show up day-after-day and absorb pressure-upon-pressure, yet still not get the results that those who reach elite results do. Why? Simply showing up to work and putting in the work is vastly different.

Showing Up to Work vs. Putting in the Work

Showing up to work is what people who want a paycheck and a promotion do. There are really faithful people who show up to work. But, this mindset is one that does the minimum required. People who show up don’t ask a lot of questions and don’t do a lot more than what is expected or required. Those who show up typically do want more, they just aren’t willing to push themselves to do more work. They live on the expectation that others are supposed to advance them. This is an error. This is small-minded thinking. People that just show up will never be the best or get the best results–someone else will.

Those that put the work in do things that most others do not or will not. They also think and prepare differently than the majority of their peers. I will outline somethings that I have learned and observed by those who have had achieved the greatest results and what kind of work they put in.

What Do Those That Put the Work in Have in Common:

Failure doesn’t define them. I have seen many developing leaders become disenfranchised when they didn’t get the results or the promotion they thought they deserved or had earned. To those who get the greatest results, failure doesn’t define them. Failure is part of the process. The mindset of those who get the best results is that it is not a choice between either failure or success, but that failure is part of the path to successful results. Early success in anyone’s life can be a great distraction or hindrance to sustaining future results. In fact, it is really hard to sustain early success. Failure is a tremendous teacher, because failure leads us to humility. Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb, famously said, “I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that don’t work.”

In Possession of Humility. They posses more humility than most. If you want to get great results learn to have great humility. This is where so many leaders take the wrong turn. They seek to elevate themselves instead of lowering themselves. Humility gives you a circumspect or wider perspective. The greatest learners are the most humble people, because they have a teachable spirit and a willingness to learn. Proud people have a very narrow perspective and do not heed well the counsel or instruction of others. Humble people will work harder than proud people because nothing is beneath them. A proud person is above things and their position limits their effort.

-More Prepared than Others. They are the most prepared person in the room. Most people fail to get great results because they aren’t prepared to get great results. I have seen over and over again that those that get the best results are the most prepared people in the room. They don’t just collect information, they investigate how to use the information. Information is neutral. Preparation is positive. You must first get the information and then you must learn how to apply what you have learned. Otherwise, the information is useless. Some people mistakenly think that possessing information means they should get results or they should get promoted. They are wrong. It is the people that prepare, study, dig, investigate, discover and then apply the information that get the best results. These people are not just prepared with information, they are prepared to act on the information.

-Work with a Fire. Your work has a rhythm to it. Because work costs energy, all people that work have to create a rhythm in order to use and renew their energy. Those that get great results have an internal fire burning inside of them that boosts their level of energy. This fire is often called passion. This fire, this passion is deep within a person, but not buried. It burns within them. Now, they have to be careful not to burn others by it, but they don’t find something they are passionate about and then work. No, they are assigned a task and they are passionate about getting the results. These leaders set goals and set a fire to get their goals, even when they don’t like what they’ve been given to do. This fire is what sustains them so much longer, so much earlier and so much later than when others peel off, quit or run out of gas.

When Michael Jordan arrived at Chapel Hill, North Carolina as a freshman on the Tar Heels basketball team, he pulled James Worthy aside after a 2 and a half hour practice and asked him to go back to the gym and play some one-on-one. Jordan did this by his own admission because James Worthy, a future NBA champion with the Los Angels Lakers, was the best player on the team. Jordan knew that if he could learn from Worthy, he could ultimately beat him and become the best player on the team. Worthy would recount that once Jordan arrived, “I was the best player on the team for about two weeks.” Jordan approached not only had a desire to learn from the best, but a fire to ultimately beat the best. Working with a fire is working with urgency. Most people simply lack the fire, the urgency to do the extra work required in getting the best results.

Robert Lewandowski who plays striker for Bayern Munich in the German Bundesliga this season broke a goal-scoring record that stood for nearly 50 years when he scored his 41st goal of the season in May of 2021. Lewandowski was asked about his technique of taking shots. He responded that “I do everything fast.” Lewandoski’s response demonstrates that he has an ultimate urgency when he trying to score goals. Leaders who want to get results and set records must have an urgency that most others lack.

Make Necessary Adjustments, Not Excuses. Those who get the greatest results eliminate excuses from their journey. An excuse is a response that relieves one of responsibility. An adjustment is an acceptance of responsibility with a necessary change. An adjustment is a needed change to produce a more favorable result. Results are always the product of a series of adjustments. The best results are never born from excuses. Think of adjustments like a combination lock. In order to open the lock, the right combination in the right order has to be executed. If you don’t get the series right, you will never open the lock. Opening a combination lock is a series of small adjustments. Sometimes, the adjustment is to back up, start again or move in an entirely different direction.

Take Ownership of the Outcome. Finally, those who get the greatest results are those who are willing to own the outcome from start to finish. This quality is really what separates those who dream from those who do and from those who wish from those that do the work. When you are willing to own the outcome, you are willing to put your name, your effort and your reputation on the line. Ownership means you have made yourself not only responsible, but accountable. Ownership is part responsibility, part activity and part accountability. You don’t have to be the actual owner to take actual ownership. My goal my entire career until I became my own boss was to make my boss look good. I discovered that if I took ownership without taking possession or perk, then I worked harder, worked longer, and ultimately, got better results. I am not proposing that you have to be a workaholic to get the results that you want. But, you will have to put in more work and take more ownership if you want to see the greatest results.

You can work really hard for a long time and still not always get the results that you desire or need. You have to be patient, focused and resilient. Our world has a multitude of distractions and attractions that will very easily steer you off course. Discipline is required to stay the course of great results.

Proverbs 13:23 says, “In all toil (work) there is profit, but mere talk leads to poverty.”

If you want profit or the positive outcome you are seeking, then put the toil, the work in. Those who just talk will have a poverty in their results that is active and ever-present. They will talk about what could be or what they think they can do. Those who “profit” will speak of what they have done or what they will get done. Those who profit will be believed by others because they have results. When you get results, others listen.

Do you want a bigger voice or a better seat at the table?

Then, go get better results!

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Effort is the Great Equalizer

Talent doesn’t advance alone. Effort is the equalizer of success.

If you think that just because you are the most skilled, the most talented or the most gifted, that you will automatically advance or progress or get the promotion, then you are sadly mistaken. Talent is important. Skills are important. Giftedness is important. But, effort is more important. What you lack in those areas, make up in task knowledge and effort!

Effort is the great equalizer in regards to talent, skills and giftedness. It is true that not all people are not equally gifted, not naturally skilled and not automatically talented. It is true in a classroom, on a field or in a board room that there are disproportionate levels of skillfulness and talent around you at any given time. But, there is one equalizer that will level your chances in the classroom, workplace, pitch, field or office and that is effort.

If you want to advance, give greater effort. 

But, first understand what effort is and what it is not. Effort is your commitment made and your energy sustained over time. Before you can sustain your energy you have to invest. A little bit of exercise makes a little bit of difference. A great amount of exercise will have a much greater difference. Think of effort like exercise. The more effort you give, like exercise, that is sustained, regimented and consistent will produce the greatest amount of results. Too many developing leaders or aspiring individuals think that one performance one day either on the field or on the job is enough to get the recognition or advancement they are looking for. Or they think that because they are more talented or more skilled, then they deserve to advance. Most people want to advance, but very few earn it. Effort is how you earn advancement.

Great effort takes time. 

To give the effort, you have to put the work in. To put the work in, you have to commit the time. Great effort takes great commitment. To commit means to bind to a certain course of action. Think of giving effort like bonding or connecting yourself to something–put with a sense of permanence. Effort is super glue. So if you aren’t super-glued to what you are committed to, then your effort will decrease over time. The advancement or progression that you are looking for most often takes time. The exception is that a person can show up and have mastery immediately. The rule is that to learn, progress and develop you must invest time. This time requires effort sustained. Time means you will have to wait. Most people see waiting as a waste of time. Those who advance see waiting as an opportunity to improve. Every day that you are waiting for what you are working for is an opportunity for you to get better, do better and get better results.

Four Phases of Effort: Preparation, Mentality, Energy & Action 

Phase 1 – Preparation.

Waiting is not wasted time if  you invest while you wait. Waiting is not resting. Resting is different than waiting. Waiting is the period of time or season from when you enter until you exit. A rest is a pause. To prepare you must work as you wait. To prepare you must train and hone your skill set, refine your results and improve your ability. Things left alone don’t improve themselves. Set goals, targets and objectives that will enhance the advancement you are looking for.

Alexander Graham Bell who invented the telephone said, “Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.”

Graham Bell who would eventually go on to found the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) which still is in existence to this day, filed his first patent for the recording of the human voice a mere two hours before his rival, Elisha Gray, tried to file one of similar design. The bottom line in this illustration is that Alexander Graham Bell was simply more prepared than his rival. Prepared people find more success because they are ahead of others.

The reasons don’t matter, the excuses don’t matter, because the most prepared people increase their likelihood of success and advancement. If opportunity is the door, then preparation is the front porch. Preparation is all the work, all of the time and all of the energy you are willing to invest in pursuit of your goal. Success is discovered on the march of preparation.

Phase 2 – Mentality.

Your mentality is not just the attitude of your mind. It is also the power of your mind. If you have a weak mentality, then you have weak mind power. Your mind is powerful if you train it to be so. Mentality is formed over time and through conditions. The highest performers on your team, in your organization or in your office always have the strongest mentalities. You have to have great mentality because to accomplish anything of substance, to find any success, you will face adversity. Adversity is not only an assault on your physical capability, it is often even more of an assault on your mental capability. Developing a strong mentality is like climbing a ladder of mental discipline and emotional self-control.

Without a strong mentality you will never overcome strong challenges. Strong challenges crush weak mentalities. 

A weak mentality comes from allowing the wrong thoughts to dominate your thinking and from allowing emotions to run out of control in your mind. Emotions are a part of our lives and our thinking, but they must be checked as they appear. True, some emotion can help our mentality, but in moments of our greatest challenge it’s not the emotion that will carry us through, it is our mentality.

In 2019, in the Champions Leagues quarter finals, Liverpool FC was down 0-3 to Lionel Messi led Barcelona FC. Jurgen Klopp’s Reds would have to score 4 home goals and maintain a clean sheet to overcome the hole they had dug for themselves in the first of the two-leg quarter final. By 10:10pm that night, the Reds achieved the improbable and Klopp described his team as “mentality giants.” Riding the momentum of that game Liverpool FC would go on and win the Champions League title.

A mentality giant or someone with a strong mentality is someone who can withstand incredible odds, adversity and pressure, while giving or increasing their effort to produce even greater results. A mentality giant is someone who controls their emotions and controls their thoughts. They exert incredible mental, physical and emotional focus. They have the ability to narrow down the urgent from the critical and the distracting from the important. A mentality giant is practices a patience and endurance that his or her peers lack. Therefore, a mentality giant will achieve more even if it takes longer or is a more difficult path.

Phase 3 – Energy.

Energy is from two Greek words and remains nearly unchanged after thousands of years. The Greek words are “en” meaning “in, within” and “ergon” meaning “work.” Thus, energy is, literally, translated “work within” or “the work within.” This is what really separates those who wish and those who achieve: the amount of energy willing to be given to a particular job, task or responsibility.

Energy comes from within you and it is both physical and mental.

Energy is the ability for your body and your mind to produce into your limbs. Energy is both biological and psychological. In order for a human body to expend energy and utilize the “work within” sleep, rest and diet must be regulated and regimented. Too many individuals are too careless with how they rest, when they sleep and what they intake into their bodies. We live in a day and age where we have very little excuse for not being able to make wise choices regarding the nutritional intake of our bodies.

Secondly, rest is critical to giving and maintaining maximum effort. Rest is often over-looked, but the body and the mind need rest. Staying up into the wee hours of the morning mindless binge-watching or scrolling hour-upon-hour of social media feeds will never allow your mind to rest. In fact, it actually hijacks the mind and keeps it awake without truly being alert. This state is what I call the zombie mind: awake, but not alert; moving, but without purpose. Rest also gives your body the proper amount of time to recharge. Your entire body must sleep. You cannot sustain permanently and perpetually the same, continual usage of motion and energy. You will crash. You will burn out. And it will not end well. Rest is not a vacation–a total disconnection. A rest is a purposeful pause before continuing. A vacation is a hard stop before you begin again.

There can and will be no great efforts without great energy.

There is a third type of energy that is often overlooked. This is because it is the most misunderstood. This is spiritual energy.  Spiritual energy is the deepest type of energy. It affects the essence of who a person is: the soul. It can only be replaced and replenished by the spiritual and drained by that which is hostile and detrimental to the soul. The Apostle Paul wrote, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might” (Ephesians 6:10) meaning the source of this spiritual energy/power comes from the Lord.

Phase 4 – Action.

Effort is action. To get to action the other three parts needed to be harmonized and synchronized. Effort is more than just what you think about. Effort is what you do about what you think. Effort is the fruit of your preparation. Your actions dictate who you actually are, not who you think you are. What you do is your effort. Many people today think they are giving great effort without actually doing anything.

Effort is action with sacrifice.

Now, what is sacrifice? 

Sacrifice is what you are willing to give up, let go of or even let pass by in the pursuit of what you are after. Sacrifice is something that is popular to allow others to do today, but not actually do yourself. Two of my daughters play very competitive soccer. The most competitive teams in our state play a couple hours away. When we made the decision to not just play travel soccer, but actually travel to train and practice with a travel team, each girl and both mom and dad had to count the cost of the sacrifices we were going to make individually, relationally and as a family. We wanted to make sure we (the parents) and each girl knew the full sacrifice, the full cost they were going to have to make.  Then, together we laid it all on the table for discussion, conversation, prayer and then the decision. Then, we took action. We took the step and kept on moving. The hardest step is not the first step, but he first correct step in the right direction. We often take steps, but they are the hard step, the right step or the costly step that will create the path to success.

Sacrifice is the cost you pay and keep paying while you pursue what you are after. There is no great effort without great sacrifice. This is the path to action: measure your movements, count the cost and then act.

Summary: 

Without a sustained effort, the results, the success and the progress that you would like to see will never simply occur. You don’t have to be the most talented to get the greatest results. But to discover the most success you can achieve, then you must give the greatest effort. Effort is composed of preparation, mentality, energy and action.

“Whatever you do, do with all your heart…” Colossians 3:23

 

 

 

 

Questions for Discussion or Introspection: 

  1. Why do organizations often value talent over effort? Can you think of a situation in your organization or team where effort equalized talent?
  2. What can be challenging about the preparation phase of effort? How can you prepare better in your organization or team? How do you think that might help?
  3. How do you strengthen your mentality? What hinders you from having a stronger mentality? How do you know when you have a strong mentality?
  4. If energy isn’t equal, then how can you have more energy to achieve better results on your team? What are barriers to spending or giving your energy wisely?
  5. Why is sacrifice so challenging? When is a time you sacrificed for something you wanted? What was it? What results did you achieve?
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How to Get Promoted – Common Mistakes Young Leaders Make

Do you want to get promoted?

Most people do!

Yes, most people who are working want a promotion. A few don’t, but the majority of the young leaders that I have worked with for over 25 years all desire promotion.  Promotion is a good thing. But, it’s not the only thing, biggest thing or defining thing of your life. Promotion comes and goes. It can be a sign of growth, development and advancement. Simply, promotion means advancement, progress and development. It is something that most ambitious young leaders really desire and work hard for…or they think they are working hard for.

Sometimes what or why we want promotion is actually for the wrong reasons. There are some common mistakes and misunderstandings about promotion. A better understanding of what promotion is and isn’t will allow you better to prepare for it.

What is Promotion?

Promotion is More than Recognition

Promotion means more than recognition. Yes, recognition is a part of promotion, but if you are immature, all you are working for is recognition. Recognition comes and goes and it goes more often than it comes. Work with a purpose, work with a passion and work to get results. Don’t work for recognition. If you do you will be sorely and frequently disappointed. Promotion is good. Don’t make promotion about recognition. Make promotion about results. Learn how to get the best results, teach others how to get the best results and promotion is a door that will not be too far in your distant future.

Promotion is Not More Important than Accomplishment

The famed business leader Peter Drucker says, “Promotion is not more important than accomplishment.” Promotion is not an accomplishment. It may feel like accomplishment. But, in reality, accomplishment is more powerful, more lasting and more impactful than a promotion. Accomplishment is what you achieved, what you’ve done and the results you’ve gotten. Accomplishment is not what you think you can do, but what you have actually done. Work to accomplish things. Don’t work to get promoted. Accomplishment is more meaningful than promotion.

Four Elements of Promotion: Potential, Impact, Accomplishment & Humility

Many young leaders and even veteran team members think “I deserve a promotion.” But that is because they are mentally measuring or having someone other than the boss tell them about their potential or their perceived impact. Potential, alone, does not merit a promotion.  Perceived impact, too, does not merit a promotion. Perceived impact is the difference you think you are making to others or the organization. Real impact is a difference validated by those in authority over you. Potential plus real impact plus accomplishment puts you in the conversation for a promotion (if one even exists).  There is no guarantee for promotion. The fourth and most important element is humility. I simply will not promote someone in my organization who lacks real humility. If you think you are humble and say to others that you are humble, you probably are full of pride and lack real humility. Humility is the force multiplier for promotion and simply why many who have climbed get stuck. Promoting a person full of pride, absent of real humility, will have devastating affects on the organization, moral and others.

I encourage my young leaders to work on personal development and personal accomplishment and then when the time is right, the opportunity will open. This is where the humility enters in–you don’t demand, you wait. Patience takes humility.  I simply have seen too many young leaders with lots of potential but their potential is paired with impatience, a lack of real impact and very little accomplishment. I’ve seen too many young leaders miss out on their potential promotion because they left, quit or checked out too early.

Four things you need to get in the conversation for promotion: potential, real impact, real accomplishment and humility.

Why do we want to be promoted?

We want a promotion for one of several reasons. The first reason is we may want to make more money. We assume, with a promotion comes more compensation. Secondly, we may want a promotion to have more authority or control over what we or others  are doing. Thirdly, we may want a promotion so we can be viewed or view ourselves as successful. Fourthly, we may want a promotion because we believe we have earned it or deserve it, even if we are not sure what comes next or what a promotion means. Fifthly, we may want a promotion because we believe we could do a better job leading or directing than the person “above them”. Finally, we may simply want a promotion because we feel stuck or un-engaged in our current role or position.

  1. Don’t view promotion as climbing a ladder.

Promotion is not climbing a ladder. The problem with climbing a ladder is eventually you run out of rungs of the ladder. Then, where do you go? What do you do? Promotion should not be viewed as climbing a ladder, because you will simply be focused on the next rung, as opposed to make the place where you are at the most effective and most productive that it can be. Promotion is more like an opportunity. View promotion as more door than ladder rung. A door you walk through. A rung you step on, hold on to and eventually leave behind. Sometimes, you simply aren’t ready to walk through the door. A door you can only be partially certain what lies behind it and what it opens to.

View: Promotion as a door that opens versus a rung you climb on.

2. Don’t think of promotion for more money.

Life is not about making money. That being said, you need to have a proper view of money. You need money to live. This is one of the reasons why you work. I like making money. But, I believe you have to develop a proper perspective of what money is and what it is not. I believe that money is simply a tool or a resource that allows a skilled individual to leverage the tool or resource in a way that creates opportunity, freedom and discovery. However, if you just want to get a promotion to get more money, then you are basically a mercenary. A mercenary is a soldier for hire. Mercenaries have no loyalty except to their wages. They are not loyal and not very trustworthy, because they lack commitment because they are always in a pursuit of more compensation. Truly successful leaders who gain promotion are not in it “to make money”. They are in it to make things better, make lives better, make things more productive and more effective.

View: Promotion is the opportunity not to make more money but to make elements of your job more effective and more productive.

3. Don’t think of promotion as an arrival.

Too many individuals think if they can just get promoted to the next level they will have “made it.” Listen, while you are on earth, there is more to learn, more to do and more to grow in. Promotion is not an arrival. Promotion is not a destination. Many individuals will work really hard to get promoted and then once they gain the promotion they feel as if they have arrived. Another way to say they have arrived is “entitlement.” Entitlement is the belief that you are owed or deserve something. Instead of working hard, they make others do the hard work. They abandon the practices and principles that got them promoted in the first place. This is why many young leaders get promoted and then get stuck. They unintentionally start thinking and working like they have arrived. It is often evident to every one but the one who got promoted. Promotion is not an arrival it is a step in your growth and it should encourage you to keep learning and keep discovery. Entitlement kills both growth and opportunity. Avoid it at all costs.

View: Promotion is simply one step on your journey of self-discovery and growth.

4. Don’t view promotion as the ultimate sign of recognition.

If you want to be a great leader, stop worrying about recognition. Rather, put your focus on the results over recognition. Recognition is cheap, but results are not. You want your boss to notice you? You know what bosses notice: results! Too many young leaders think that when the boss’s eyes are on them they need to perform. They are wrong, it is more critical to perform and get results when the boss’s eyes are not on them. The boss knows, because the boss knows the business and the business is measurable by results. Promotion should be an acknowledgement of results, not recognition. Some results are harder to get than others. The young leader desiring promotion needs to put their head down, accept that life isn’t fair and you can’t be anything you want to be and get to work. More than getting promoted, young leaders need to learn patience and resilience. You are not more valuable because you get promoted. You will have more responsibility, more pressure and more demand for your time if you get promoted. Most people are ready for what comes with promotion. This is why compensation rises with promotion. Because more is expected and their is greater risk & pressure as you are promoted. Many young people think a promotion means less work and more money. They are grievously wrong. As you rise pressure and risk rise. This is why those who are “higher” in the organization have more liberty and greater compensation.

 

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Do You Want to Get Better?

A lot of people say they want to get better. A lot of organizations, departments and teams say they want to get better. 

What does it mean to get better?

Getting better means you are improving. We have become a society that is comfortable with mediocrity. Mediocrity means you don’t get better, you simply stay the same. But, no one stays the same. There is no neutral in your life. You will either improve or you will slide. You will progress or regress. Success is never accidental and it is certainly never found through mediocrity. Mediocrity produces disappointment, unrealized dreams and missed goals. Mediocrity is personal preparation to miss opportunity. When you live with a mediocre attitude, with mediocre effort, you will always get mediocre results. Average doesn’t stay average for long. Average becomes below average when you accept mediocrity. 

Eradicate Mediocrity

I am on a personal journey to eradicate mediocrity out of my life and my organization. This is life -long pursuit. And it begins with the belief that I will never arrive. This means I, personally, and my organization, collectively, must always improve. The first president of Chick-fil-A, Jimmy Collins, I once heard say, “I find very little perfection on earth.” He would go on to explain that he was looking for excellence. He explained that there was always room for improvement. If we can recognize our need for improvement, then we enter the path of growth. Staying on the path is quite another thing. To stay on the path of personal growth, you must have discipline and a lot of it.

Personal discipline paves the path to personal growth. 

We all say we want to grow. But, most people are simply not disciplined enough to grow in all the ways they could or should. A new year is always a time to examine new growth. However, good growth is simply impossible without discipline. It is important to pause and consider that there is no neutrality in regards to growth. There is good growth and there is bad growth just as there are good habits and bad habits. If you are becoming more lazy, this is an example of bad growth. If you are becoming more intentional, more focused this would be an example of good growth.

An honest evaluation is where you must begin.

Truly self-aware individuals are in a constant state of evaluation. This is where discipline begins: the evaluation. Self-aware individuals are able to self-evaluate. The best evaluations lead you to a great awareness of who you are and where you really are. Until you are able to self-evaluate, you need others to help you with your evaluations. Instead of looking for encouragement and praise from the evaluator, look for truth. Truth is the reality of where you really are and where you are not. A good evaluation gives good measurement. It is a combination of encouragement and challenge. A good evaluation is not one-sided. Rather, a good evaluation is circumspect–meaning it is more of 360 degrees than 180 or 90 degrees. As you become more self-aware, you should become more aware of your weaknesses and blind-spots. These areas taint your view of you and are catalysts for laziness and mediocrity. You must learn to accept the hard reality of these areas in your life and bring greater discipline into them so that you will have greater success. 

Ephesians 5:15 says, “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise”. This word circumspectly means having the highest level of accuracy and attention to detail. It means you have narrowed it down in a way that you are carefully considering what is before you. Without careful consideration and examination, it is very easy to accept things, habits and conduct in your life that is detrimental to your personal success and the success of others. 

You will not grow in a healthy fashion without discipline. It is easy to want everyone around you to be disciplined while you yourself are not at the level of discipline that you need to be. Highly successful people and highly successful organizations are always highly disciplined. 

If you want to grow, if you want to see real, personal growth in your life then, you will not discover it without real, personal discipline.  You must examine yourself and find the places where you are giving yourself permission to do things you shouldn’t or giving yourself permission not to do things you should. Discipline is always an action. It may be unseen, but personal discipline is always an action. 

Discipline is the habit of saying no and the art of knowing when to say yes. 

Start by telling yourself no and others no. Only say yes to your spouse and to what is critical. We allow far too many loud things to get our yes’s. Discipline saves your yes’s. One of the hardest things I had to learn as a leader was first to tell others no, and then only say yes if it was critical to what my calling, my mission and my direction was. Every wasted yes results in wasted time and misused energy. Don’t waste your yes’s. Keep a perpetual yes on the table for God and your mate and everyone else starts with no. 

Discipline is the practice of establishing boundaries and keeping yourself and others in them. People, including, you, have a hard time staying in their lane. The Bible says, “All we like sheep have gone astray.” We are prone to wander. Wanderer is a sign we are not disciplined. The reason so few people see growth is they are not intentional to pursue self discipline. Discipline is an intentional set of habits, practices and behavior that you hold yourself to without the need of others. This is self-accountability which looks a whole like personal responsibility. 

Success is not found in your dream, but in your discipline. 

I have found the greatest personal success has come through my sustained, personal discipline. If you want to find success, then hunt it through rigorous personal discipline. I have seen people get results who extraordinary ill-disciplined and have grown careless. This is a recipe for wasting what God has given you and wasting your opportunity. 

Establish personal discipline and you will see personal growth. Discipline means you do more than you talk, dream or desire. 

I’ve seen that discipline not desire is the pivot point on which developing leaders hinge. Without it they regress. With it they practice patience and progress. If you want to get better, see stronger results and create forward movement, then it is and will always be discipline that propels you forward, one step, one act of discipline at a time. Getting better requires better discipline. You have to get it and put it into your life and your organization. You cannot accept mediocrity in your life or the lives of those you are partnered with. Excellence kills mediocrity and discipline paves the path of excellence. 

You want to build a great life, great team, great organization and great business, then personal discipline is the key. 

“Discipline is the soul of an army.” 

~George Washington

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Leadership Word of the Week: Drive

Everyone is motivated by something. The problem is that many people don’t have a clue what motivates them. They live life just reacting to the stimuli that they are confronted with. This kind of person lives a very shallow and dull life. They are moved or carried by the currents of life.

What so many people are lacking today is simply: drive.

Drive is the invisible, internal force in a person that is where motivation meets activation.  Drive takes your desires and makes them become directions Drive is what keeps you moving when everyone else has quit, gone home or accepted defeat. A car in park does not serve it’s purpose. Cars are designed for transport. Just like cars, there are too many people in the world today who have placed their lives in park or neutral. Park means you are going nowhere. Neutral means you will be pulled or pushed into the direction of another.

Drive is more than desire. To express a desire to do something, to expound your thoughts about doing something, these are not drive. These are merely desire. Desire is either fuel or fumes. Fumes happen when the only energy your desire meets is in your mind. The fumes of your desire escape and you move nothing, do nothing and gain nothing. Desire is fuel when you possess drive. But, having desire alone is an empty gas tank. A car in drive with no desire moves nowhere.

When you have drive, you enjoy the ride. You enjoy the journey. Too many people today are so obsessed with the next step, they don’t enjoy the one they are standing on. Escape is not drive. Don’t mistake escape for drive. Escape is a feeling of just wanting to get out. Drive is understanding why you are here and what you can do about it–what you can learn while you are hear. Drive is not as much about the destination as about the journey. The journey is where the joy happens. For example, you enter your vehicle in a road race. Which joy is more lasting, the trophy or the time spent on the track. The most powerful memories come from running the race, not receiving the rewards. Trophies are meant for shelves and collect dust. Great lives are not determined by the number of trophies, but the number of miles on the track. And no race is won with a car stuck in park or neutral.

Drive is a differentiator. If you want to differentiate yourself from your peers and excel to a level beyond them, then drive on in learning, in understanding and in output. Your input often determines your output. The reason you don’t get as much out of something, a job, a position or a work is that you simply have put enough into it. And it goes beyond just putting in, you need to pour in. Pour your emotional energy, your mental energy and your physical energy in to what you already have. Too many today in our workplaces simply take more out than they put in. Those who have drive, pour more in than they take out. Those that are driven have an internal energy that burns when the external encouragement dries up. Those who live for feedback lack drive. Driven people don’t need lots of encouragement. Conversely, they are little affected by discouragement. A person with drive moves on despite the applause, despite silence and despite boos.

Drive reveals your mental and emotional strength. There are too many weak-minded people and emotional cupcakes in the world today. Drive reveals itself in a solid, steady and strong mind-set. Drive keeps you going when everything and everyone quit. Drive brings you in early and keeps you late. Drive goes the extra mile and does the extra work. Drive is not accepting poor performance or inferior results as final. Drive keeps working, keeps seeking, and keeps knocking.

Drive is also like hunger–a hunger to do more, see more and be more. Drive is a hunger to learn, to grow and to develop. Drive is an appetite and those that have it stay lean and hungry. They don’t arrive. They don’t push back from the table. They keep themselves lean and hungry, not lean and cranky. They have an insatiable appetite to experience for themselves what others merely look over, pass by or completely ignore. Drive is a kind of curiosity that keeps you turning over stones, looking behind bushes and digger deeper.

People who have drive are able to press on when they get push back.

In a world of passengers, be a driver. In a world of floaters, be a driver. In a world or spectators, be a driver. Those who drive experience fuller, more productive lives.

 

(c) Alex Vann, 2018

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Leadership Word of the Week: Grit

In a furious world full of snowflakes, we need strong men and women who don’t melt at the first thought of heat. We need to teach our children, our teams and our people to rise to the occasion and stop dropping our heads and evaporating when life doesn’t go their way.

We need to teach our kids, our teams, our people and ourselves one word above all others today: Grit.

Grit is being tough when you feel weak. 

Grit is both your ability to step into adversity and stand up under it. Grit is where your energy meets adversity. Call it perseverance. Call it endurance. Grit is where courage rejects fear. Grit is the place your heart grows stronger than your sight, your strength and your mind. Toughness and single-mindedness define the one who is filled with grit. In a world where weakness is being modeled and praised, we need a movement to bring grit back!

Grit leaves a legacy. But you will never leave a legacy until you first leave a mark. Most people today, because they don’t have grit, just simply leave altogether.

Sandpaper has grit. Sandpaper leaves it’s mark. Construction paper is colorful and makes all kind of cute dioramas, but leaves no lasting mark on its environment. The first storm and construction paper turns into destruction paper—a wet, weak mess. People without grit are like construction paper – colorful, but impotent. Sandpaper on the other hand is strong and makes an impression when rubbed.

Have you ever rubbed construction paper?

Construction paper can’t stand up to the pressure. Because, construction paper has a weak constitution. You, literally, can rub a hole right through it. But, sandpaper is made of a different constitution. Part paper, part glue and all grit (sand grains) makes sandpaper a formidable force for any surface.

Grit makes you formidable. We live in a pressure packed world. But, those with grit can handle the pressure. Grit allows gives you the determination to be undeterred. The world wants to crush you. Seriously, nothing in the world improves itself. It all decays. All the forces of this world will pull you down. We used to have men and women who fought for things and built things. Now, we just have people who want to be given things.

No one can give you grit. You get grit by setting your face like flint to hard things, clenching your teeth and taking one step at a time. Grit takes no shortcuts and keeps you in it for the long haul.

Grit makes sparks in your soul. The reason there are so many passionless people is they are looking for a passion instead of looking for grit. Grit says, “Give me the hard way.” But, no one wants hard things anymore. Our world’s mantra is “make it easy and make it sweet.” You will never learn grit that way. The grit gets sucked out of you and you become the wrapping paper instead of the construction paper.

Grit goes to work. Listen, life is not fair. Stop wishing it was your version of fair and just get to work. And once you get to work, keep working. I see so many young people without grit, without stick-to-it-ness. When they don’t get what they want. They quit.

Grit don’t quit.

Life is not going to go your way all of the time, in fact, most of the time. And life, certainly, isn’t easy. So, when life doesn’t go your way, you suck it up and go to work. This is grit. And grit is only learned as you work hard. Because, grit can only be learned as you work hard. You can’t learn grit playing video games or watching videos on the internet. You can’t learn grit by letting someone else fight your battles. You can’t learn grit by reading social media posts or listening to popular pundits. You can’t learn grit from having a mentor or getting feedback. You can’t learn grit from running from your problems. You can’t learn grit by hiding from adversity.

You learn grit when you don’t quit. We have a world full of quitters today. They call it “advancement” or “leaving for the next opportunity.” But, too many people leave too early, simply because they don’t have the mental, emotional or even physical fortitude to suffer through one fruitless season into a more fruitful one.

“Over time grit is what separates fruitful lives from aimless ones.”
~John Ortberg

Grit is a divider. It divides the morally strong from the morally bankrupt. It separates the winners from the losers. It separates the men from the boys, the women from the girls. Grit puts it’s big boy and big girl pants on and gets to work. Grit is the line between those who stay and those who just want out. Grit is the line between those who absorb the pressure and  those whine to get their own way and escape the pressure. Information will never make you stronger, but straining under hard things will always make you stronger.

Get some grit and get to work. Those with grit will outlast and out-perform those without it.

Grit means “getting results in-spite of trials.”

(C) Alex Vann, 2018

 

 

*Special thanks to my iron, my friend and eldest sibling, Aaron, for a discussion about grit that gave me this week’s word.

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Leadership Word of the Week: Hustle

As you develop people, in order to reach them you need to teach them new concepts and use vocabulary that represents these concepts. Using a word or a short group of words often facilitates quicker understanding and quicker application.

This week’s word: Hustle

“Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.”

-Abraham Lincoln

Hustle means to use more energy get things done faster. Hustle means to use energy that maybe you didn’t want to because the situation calls for more. To hustle means you have to move quickly. Hustle doesn’t mean you move without thinking, it means that you are able to reach another, higher gear while doing the same task.

Hustle kills sloth. Sloth is a malaise that is always present in the individual lives of your team and also thus, is always growing or dying in the collective life of your team, department or organization.

Hustle creates high productivity. Hustle is where initiative means energy. Successful teams are characterized by members who actually take the initiative, not merely talk about initiative. Initiative is always seized. It has to be taken. And taking initiative always requires more energy than before. This what happens, people like the idea of getting things done earlier and faster, but the reality is they do not want to expend any more energy than they feel like they have to.

Hustle is energy at work. Energy is either gained or drained. Energy at rest never creates a greater capacity for force. Energy like muscle drains if you don’t use it. Using energy gives you a residual, incremental increase in more energy over time. It has to be paired with rest.

This week work hustle into your work.

Hustle comes from the heart. Those who love what they do and who they are doing it for or with, find it reasonable and expected that they will give more energy and more initiative before they are called upon, but especially if they are called upon.

Those who hustle knock on opportunity’s door most often.

 

(c) Alex Vann, 2018

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Leadership is an Exercise in Patience

Leadership is like a muscle. It doesn’t grow just because you want it to. It doesn’t grow because you dream of it growing. Growth and skilled leadership take real work, hard work and most of all patience. Hard work means patience. Hard work means practice.  This combination of practice and patience establish the rhythm by which the leadership muscle is perfected.

“But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

James 1:5 (NKJV)

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Me as a freshman at Hardin-Simmons University, 1995. An impatient outside linebacker.

Those Who Stay will be Champions 

I played five sports (football, basketball, baseball, wrestling and soccer) in high school and in all of them our practice-to-game ratio was a combined average about 3:1 or 4:1. That means we practiced 300 to 400% more than we played games! And that was during the season. Each season before the first game, we practiced nearly a month before the first game. That means before our first significant test, match or game it was a nearly 20-25:1 ratio –2000-2500% more  practice before the first game!  I think when you start to break down hours spent in practice versus hours spent in game time, the ratio is probably much more pronounced. I would go on to the next level. Little did I know as you advance in athletics, in life, in relationships and especially in leadership, the next level always requires more patience. I watched many players start with a lot of talk, but grew impatient quickly and quit.

Higher levels = more practice. I discovered this playing NCAA III football at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas under Head Coach and West Texas legend, Jimmie Keeling, who loved to practice. He’d say things like “Men, this is where we get better” as you had sweat pouring in your eyes in the 116 degree West Texas oven.  Nearly, every day in team meeting he would say “W-I-N. What’s Important Now?” and he would go on to say things like, “Practice, men, practice…” in his west Texas drawl with a sly smile and a twinkle in his eye. Too many developing leaders view practice as a waste of time. This does not allow for healthy development in leadership acumen.

Always one to value my personal time, I calculated that between three-a-days (three practices a day in summer), working out, watching film, meetings, actual practice time, team meals, extra work and logistics, I spent anywhere from 80-100 hours some weeks for a 3 hour football game of which a starter would be on the field 20-30 minutes of actually game time. With the average play lasting only 6-8 seconds, college football is primarily a game of preparation for a split second of execution. Just like leadership, many decisions have to be made in a split second.  That’s why in football, you drill, drill, drill and more drill. Many leaders don’t think that what they are doing when they are waiting matters. They couldn’t be more wrong! There is not a wasted play or wasted practice in leadership development. Preparation finds its identity in practice. Practice it’s perfection in repetition. Patience and practice have a way of weeding people out.  Coach Keeling with an astounding combined college and high school coaching record of 368-144-11, used to always say “Those who stay will be champions!” He meant if you lose sight of the goal and get impatient, then you will never achieve what you started out after. He meant patience is the key to success.

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“Those who stay will be champions!” 

Former Hardin-Simmons Head Football Coach and one of my Heroes,

Jimmie Keeling

Leadership is Perfected in Practice 

Leadership is not a game. It is a continual, commitment that requires and demands practice. Leadership is perfected in and only in practice. Great players didn’t come out of the womb great. They came out gifted. It’s the combination of practice and patience that fostered greatness.

An impatient leader is a poor leader. Zeal and enthusiasm are important in leadership, but single-handedly they cannot produce growth. But, they can sure produce a lot of frustration. Impatient leaders don’t produce good followers, more leaders or greater inlfluence. Impatient leaders produce the fruits of frustration and exhaustion. The reality is impatient leaders produce anxiety, accelerate stress and create a climate of more impatience.  Impatience is water running downhill. It erodes and the quicker it moves the faster it erodes.

Patience is not a barrier. Barriers are concrete objects that prevent progress. Barriers have to smashed. Leaders do little smashing and lots of chiseling. Patience is a boundary. Boundaries can be rescinded or extended. A boundary gives you space to operate in and grow in.

Patience Means Sometimes You Walk Away

Wise leaders establish boundaries, organize the work and walk away. This is not the walking away of irresponsibility, but the walking away of patience. Your followers will never grow if you don’t give them room. But this is room inside the boundaries. There is a time where mature leaders must walk away and allow their immature, developing  leaders the opportunity to learn patience. Even among millennial leaders (who demand constant feedback), I intentionally give them more space than they are comfortable with. Now, a wise leader walks away to an elevated position of observation, but not so far away they are unable to engage in a moment of need.

The Lesson of the Lifeguard

Like the lifeguard stationed at the deep end of a pool, take up a position that allows you to observe the confidence, competence and judgment of the leader you just let loose.

When they start to overexert themselves, let them sink a little. This requires patience on their part and your part. Sometimes,  they thrash violently, but then regain equilibrium. Leave them alone at this point. But, when their sinking is causing others to go under or everyone starts getting out of the pool, then decisively, directly and without discussion dive in the pool and rescue them. It takes patience to sit and watch a young leader struggle, but they will not grow without patience, both their own and yours.

The half-drowned swimmer looks at the lifeguard and says, “You almost let me drown. Why did you wait so long!?“

The lifeguard smiles and replies softly, “Are you sill breathing? Now, get back in there and do it again.”

(c) Alex Vann, 2017.