It is disturbing to see and hear about leaders who are just giving up! Most of them have been in leadership for some time, and seemingly all of a sudden, they just want out. No energy and little passion left.....
Some are prepared to just walk away from what they have spent years and years of their lives building.
They would leave their legacies in jeopardy, just to "get away" from it all... Why?
Is it that too many leaders start out with the idea that to be successful you have to be the biggest or the best?
It seems to me that when you play the numbers game, you will always end up falling short somewhere.
Someone else will always be "bigger" and "better" than you. -At least for a while.
May be it has something to do with the fact that one may feel that after a certain number of years you should have achieved more: Whatever you have been building should have been bigger or better and now that it pales in comparison to what others have done, you want to stop playing this game and go home. Tired of the race.
It is great to partake in a race! (I have done running and cycling.) You learn a lot about yourself.
One important thing to remember is that although 35 000 plus people takes part in the Cape Argus cycle tour, only one can win! Does that mean that I should not participate? Should I ride as hard and fast as I possibly can, to try and stay with the winning group at all cost? What do I have to do to say that I had a successful cycle race?
What do you have to do to have the feeling that you have achieved success in leadership and in life?
Success is not about being the biggest or the best, but about endurance and sustainability.
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ReplyDeleteThank you for a thought-provoking blog!
ReplyDeleteI agree with the statement about success at the end of the blog, but something in me is still wondering whether it would always be considered success if one try to finish whatever it is that you have started, no matter what the cost. Might there be situations where it is wise or prudent to just weigh the costs and cut your losses?
I think people quit too easily these days and there might be several reasons for quitting. Here are some of my ideas on why people do not have resilience or as I would like to call it stickability:
1. Burnout - a wise man once said,"If your output exceeds your
input, your upkeep will be your downfall"
2. Lack of emotional intelligende - our culture of instant
gratification leads to the inability to wait or endure for
some time in order to gain the reward.
3. Being knocked down one time too many - apathy, lack of
respect for other human beings and a complete insensitivity
towards other people, lead to many hurts in life, this might
lead to a persons decision to quit.
And lastly, my new hypothesis that I am currently playing around with. In life people need to be grounded as well as connected to be able to face life's challenges. This hypothesis may actually include abovementioned reasons for throwing in the towel. With grounded I mean those activities we engaged in to refuel our emotional and spiritual tanks (quiet times, relaxation, appreciation of nature, reading a good book, introspection, etc.). Connectedness, relates to the way that we as human beings connect with our fellow human beings (e-mail, phone calls, sms, bbm, etc.)
It is my observation that too many people today have a unhealthy tendency to be so connected that it leads to superficial relationships, oversharing, inability to focus on the task at hand, inability to focus on the real life situations or people in your immediate surrounds, responses that are not well thought through and thus unnecessary miscommunication and tension. Add to that the fact that a lot of people underestimate the value of selfknowledge, spiritual nourishment, rest and relaxation, and solitude, it leads to a society where we have a lot of people who just exist from one day to the next,people living reactive lives instead of proactive lives. A recipe for not being able to endure.
A person may fall according to my thinking in one of four possible positions:
1. Connected and grounded - in a balanced way, healthy position.
2. Connected but not grounded - a person in this position will follow any new trend or idea because they are not grounded.
3. Not connected but grounded - a life in isolation can not be healthy.
4. Not grounded or connected - apathy and disinterest in life marks this position, and according to my opinion is the most dangerous position to be in.
Regards from a rambling fellow traveller who likes to ponder on the complexities of life.
Thank you for your insightful and content rich comments!
ReplyDeleteI agree that much more need to be made of the attainment of emotional intelligence.
The need to be grounded and connected in a healthy way, could not be overstated.
Wow, I need to start of by saying this is good stuff.
ReplyDeleteI would just like to add my 5 cents and say, I think in our culture we have this Idea that if you do not DIY (do it yourself) you haven’t achieved anything or we feel it is not that great of achievement. All the great leadership hero’s we read about, and lets be honest we hope to be one day. We sometimes have the tendency to forget that they never did it on their own. Jake White is a world cup winning coach, but he could only do it with having a great team around him. A great team of players and also technical staff and supporting staff. Yes he did put those teams all together but he knew that he will never be able to make it on his own.
I think to be successful and to be a great leader is to realise that you are not the smartest and most gifted person in the room but you have the end picture in mind (call it dream or vision) and are big enough to get the right teams and people along side you to make that vision a reality, this way we create sustainability and endurance.