Today’s inspirational quote combines the pursuit of excellence with both the realistic and aspirational approaches to expectations.
“You are what you repeatedly do. Excellence is not an event – it is a habit.” – Aristotle
Several years ago I was asked to give a keynote address to a national program whose focus was in developing world class athletes. This particular organization was an Olympic pipeline program designed to mold “young potentials” into the future champions for the United States. They had asked me to share some leadership thoughts on vision and mission, as they prepared to re-write these two important strategic planning tools.
Using metaphors of music and trees, I attempted to illustrate creative comparisons using works from two classic composers Pachelbel and Stravinsky (which without the accompanying music unfortunately doesn’t translate perfectly to words on paper, but am happy to share if you are interested) and my personal fascination with the Rocky Mountains’ magnificent Aspen groves to convey synchronized, complementary, and communal aspects of how proper messaging can provide direction and alignment for organizational success.
The evening’s address was fun and well received by the numerous coaches and parents in the room. However, it wasn’t until the following day when leading a breakout session simply titled Leadership Workshop that I felt I experienced a more profound connection with the audience. I was asked to guide an interactive workshop designed to explore the core principles and competencies of effective leadership. Despite my experience and confidence in this field, I was still secretly worried that no one would show up to my session. These were nationally recognized coaches, many of which had successfully developed young athletes in their respective programs into Olympic medal winners. They were also parents who had invested significant personal time and financial resources to help realize their children’s dreams of representing the United States. To say that I was anxious about this breakout session is a severe understatement.
Much to my shock, nearly the entire organization showed up at the appointed time. No pressure right? I couldn't help but to wonder if this audience – arguably some of the most successful Olympic coaches in our country - really want to hear from me. The answer is a little more complicated. I’m not convinced so much that they wanted to hear from “me,” as much as they wanted to have a genuine conversation with someone who, like them, was fully committed to exploring more effective, efficient, and rewarding developmental activities for their young athlete protégés. I was surprised to discover that they too, despite their numerous accolades, were anxious about their respective programs and both hungry and curious on how to improve the quality and experience.
I had spent some time the previous evening and morning prior to the session consolidating some notes on personal best leadership practices and some critical lessons learned when environmental changes forced adaptive action that didn’t quite match my original planning. But perhaps due to either my genuine surprise at the size of my new audience or some cosmic flash of luck, I ditched my notes and asked the audience what was on their mind.
It was during this heart-to-heart connection and due to my genuine curiosity that I asked the collective group: “What was the percentage of athletes in their respective programs who eventually made it onto the national US team, were given the opportunity to compete at this elite level, and walked away with a gold, silver, or bronze?” This question was initially met with a profound silence. After some quiet reflection, the coaches and parents began to share the numbers. I do not recall the exact percentages they revealed that morning, but suffice it to say that out of the hundreds of thousands of athletes that belong to numerous division, region, and state pipeline clubs/programs, only an extremely small amount get “invited to the show” to train at the elite level. An even smaller number make the squad that gets to compete at the national/international level in one of its seven sports, and an infinitesimal amount experience the honor or walking away from the podium with a medal. The probabilities of achieving this accomplishment are dauntless.
It was at this point where someone from the audience asked if the organizational vision and mission was then an unrealistic, and for the vast majority of the athletes, an unachievable goal. After a moment’s consideration, I framed my response in the form of a reflected question. I simply asked everyone in the room if achieving a medal was their true measure of success for their respective organizations. We all knew that the odds were against these athletes. While extremely talented, very few are lucky enough to find themselves in a position to have a perfect run in which their time/score is enough to surpass the best in the world.
This led to a very humbling, serious, and authentic discussion on how to translate something potentially esoteric (like the coaches' version of a vision and mission statement) into a tangible and meaningful application for the athletes.
Fortunately, that is the beauty of a well formed vision – its aspirational nature. Combined with a well-articulated mission statement, they establish a compelling road map that challenges, excites, and inspires the organization towards a collective focus. Our discussion didn’t focus on the incredibly small number of athletes that actually realize this vision of being the best in the world, but instead explored how to lead, encourage, and support these young athletes as they relentlessly pursued this dream of achieving excellence. At the end of the day, this drive, focus, and motivation to continually improve is not only a compelling recipe for life success regardless of domain or profession, but perhaps more importantly, a formula for shaping conscientious and contributing members of our society. How are you incorporating Aristotle’s “habitual” challenge into your everyday life?
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