
The Mastery Fork in the Leadership Road: Part 2
“Mastery is the best goal because the rich can’t buy it, the impatient can’t rush it, the privileged can’t inherit it, and nobody can steal it. You can only earn it through hard work. Mastery is the ultimate status.” ~Dereck Sivers
In the introduction, I asked why isn't it you? Why aren't you your favorite leader?
I described how a friend of mine who teaches guitar uses that question with his students to nudge them towards taking the mastery fork in the road and finding their own sound vs. trying to cobble together "stolen licks" from their guitar heroes.
In The Mastery Fork in the Leadership Road: Part 1, I described a number of ways you could take a mastery orientation towards your own way of leading.
And, like my friend, I offered that as an alternative to the more typical focus of figuring out what you had to do and how you had to bend yourself to get a promotion.
My suggestions were to...
- get a model of effective executive leadership
- become a "student of leadership" so you can be very specific about what the leaders you admire actually do
- see what you are already doing that is effective
- find a targeted skills coach
- look for opportunities to get extra reps in
All the suggestions had an orientation towards controlling what you can control on the road to finding and mastering your unique way of leading.
This final installment will discuss why the focus on what you can control is so important, the role of your coach (if you are using one), and what Job #1 is for leaders who choose this path.
Controlling What You Can Control
For those on the mastery road, you're not alone in keeping your focus on what you can control (vs. worrying about promotions). You're actually in good company. Very good company.
This is what all the great athletes and teams do. Of course they want to raise cups and trophies and banners, but that is not what they focus on, because those are outcome they don’t fully control.
In his book, The Score Takes Care of Itself, NFL Head Coach Bill Walsh said, “I directed our focus less to the prize of victory than to the process of improving…obsessing, perhaps, about the quality of our execution and the content of our thinking; that is, our actions and attitude. I knew if I did that, winning would take care of itself.”
Sports performance coaches (who in my view Corporate Coaches could learn a lot from) also put the focus squarely on inputs, routines, and daily habits.
And not just the daily practice time on the ice, court, or field...all the daily routines.
The physical ones like stretching, diet, sleep, and recovery are obviously important. But so to are the mental and emotional ones, like your interactions with others, the way your react when something doesn't go your way, and your self-talk throughout the day.
Brijesh Patel is the Strength and Conditioning coach at Quinnipiac College and their NCAA champion Men's Hockey team. He preaches the concept of a 24-hour athlete to the students.
"Just because you train and work out for two or three hours a day, that’s not the only time you’re an athlete,” Patel says.
"If you're staying up late scrolling or playing games, not eating the right foods, not speaking to yourself in a positive way...you’re not treating yourself with respect and that’s going to directly impact your ability to perform."
Think this is just a jock thing? Think again.
Even bottom-line business leaders make inputs and habits their focus.
In his 2009 letter to shareholders, Jeff Bezos highlighted Amazon's approach:
“Senior leaders that are new to Amazon are often surprised by how little time we spend discussing actual financial results or debating projected financial outputs.
To be clear, we take these financial outputs seriously, but we believe that focusing our energy on the controllable inputs to our business is the most effective way to maximize financial outputs over time.”
What is mastery? At the heart of it, mastery is staying on the path.” ~George Leonard
The Role of the Coach and the Role of the Leader
On the Mastery Road, there are a lot of things the coach and the leader each have to do. It is, after all, a long road.
But in each case, one task matters most.
The coach’s role is to be a container...to see the unfolding leadership potential that their clients can’t yet see, to provide honest feedback about what is working and what is wanting, and to hold a steadfast belief in what is becoming... until clients can carry their own.
Job #1 for leaders choosing to walk the Mastery road is, quite simply, to not quit.
One reason to stay in the game is because no matter how long you have been at it, you still have so much to learn.
"I have this weird obsession with talking to older entrepreneurs. Most of 'em are in these private, family held businesses you've probably never even heard of that secretly dominate the industries they are in. They say they're never gonna retire. They're four, five, six decades into what they're doing, and they're still learning new things. Just when you think you know it all, you realize that you're fooling yourself." ~David Senra, Founders podcast, #397
"It's unbelievable how much you don't know about the game you've been playing all your life. ~Mickey Mantle
Another reason to stay in the game is because the returns compound.
If Warren Buffet had retired at 65, he would have been considered an average investor. But because of the magic of compounding, by staying in the game until his 90s, he became one of the greatest wealth creators of all time.
Jiro Ono (Jiro Dreams of Sushi) started working in restaurants when he was under ten years old. He opened the restaurant he is famous for when he was 39.
Jiro's belief is that "This is what's most important. Always look ahead and above yourself. Always try to improve on yourself. Always strive to elevate your craft."
He won his first Michelin Star when he was in his 60's. Now his restaurant has three stars. (A three star rating means: "This implies that the dining experience is so outstanding, it justifies a dedicated trip to the restaurant, even if it requires significant travel.")
Jiro says, "When we have good tuna, I feel great. When I'm making the sushi, I feel victorious."
He was 85 when the documentary was made and was still working the counter ever day. As of this writing, he is 97, and while he no longer works the counter, he still oversees operations.
It's hard to compete with people that have a love for the activity itself. And it is hard to compete with people who stay in the game long enough to allow the magic of compounding to multiply those daily investments and improvements.
Because without an Ithaka, even the great Odysseus is just a wanderer.
How Good Can You Become?
Finally, don't quit also means...don't quit on yourself.
I said earlier that the role of the coach is to see what is becoming until the coachees can carry their own. This next story perfectly illustrates that in action.
Coach Mike Krzyzewski tells a story about the time that Shane Battier was playing for him. They had a great team one year, but almost the whole team graduated or went into the NBA draft.
"Shane was going to be the next great player and I needed him to be thinking big...about being the ACC player of the year, about winning another NCAA championship, etc.
Over the summer, I called Shane and asked him, "when you went to bed last night did you think about being ACC player of the year next year?" Shane said, "No."
I hung up on him.
I called him the next day and ask him, "When you went to bed last night did you think about winning the national championship?" Shane said, “No."
I hung up on him.
And the third day I called him, and Shane said, "Coach, don't hang up on me." I said, "I will stop hanging up on you, when you stop hanging up on you. You should be a tree that is free to grow, not one in a box. And you are putting yourself in a box...it’s a nice box; you're a really good player. But you have a chance to be great."
The poem Ithaka by C.P Cavafy is organized around the familiar story of Odysseus. But it really reminds us the importance of keeping something out in front of you...a destination, a purpose...even a question like how good can I become?
As you set out for Ithaka
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.
Hope your road is a long one.
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbors you’re seeing for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind—
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to learn and go on learning from their scholars.
Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you’re destined for.
But don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you’re old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.
Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn't have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.
Coda
Bringing these three articles full circle, the next time someone asks you who your favorite leader is, say, "I am."
"I'm my favorite leader not because I am perfect or where I want to be yet, but because I am on the road to finding my voice and mastering my approach to leading. I trudge the road and will continue to do so because I am genuinely curious to see where it leads, what's possible, and how good I can become."
Because without an Ithaka, even the great Odysseus is just a wanderer.
Dennis Adsit, Ph.D. is an executive coach, organization consultant, and designer of The First 100 Days and Beyond, a consulting service that has helped hundreds of newly hired and promoted executives get great starts in challenging new jobs.