What do we really know about our leaders?
We are dying to know what they know to learn exactly how to follow them and, ideally, to be able to emulate them.
Perhaps you can name leaders at the forefront of your industry or profession. Maybe you think you could be more successful if you could be more like them, so you study their jobs, buy their books, and maybe you want to be in their organizations. Even when you have studied all you can about them and think you understand the keys to their success, you don't know. There is something else you must do.
His quest for excellence is a noble journey. Sadly, the path often leads to insane frustration rather than triumphant success when seemingly little things are overlooked.
Sometimes only one simple thing is the key to solving the performance barriers that have been holding you back, allowing you to finally achieve your goals with the greatest of ease.
Show or Account
This has been for decades since learning was the common way to mastering a profession or art. Today college is the conventional answer, with knowledge distributed via conference rooms, online courses, and email exchanges with teachers. Connections are casual and not very personal. Today we are more isolated from the people from whom we have to learn. Technology makes it easy for leaders to protect their personal space and keep learners at a distance. Yes, we learn, but we don't learn enough. We don't learn the important part.
No matter how closely we listen to what others say, no matter how closely we look at what they do, our imitation will be imperfect because we will not really understand why they do what they do. We must be close enough to understand the back story. If we really want to learn from each other, we must be close enough to hear them breathe.
Nano Lessons
Leaders in our profession have made thousands of tiny decisions that, in combination, have enabled them to function at high levels. To function we must also understand their value system and how they came to make those choices. This is how successful leaders of the past learned to succeed.
- Benjamin Franklin served as an apprentice with his brother James to learn the printing trade. Franklin's success with a printer later financed his kite flight and political endeavors. James Lick was the richest man in California when he died in 1876. He learned the art of creating pianos from his father, and mastered the Lick of Those skills were the cornerstone in building his fortune. Levi Strauss learned the clothing business by working side by side with his older brothers Louis and Jonas in New York City. Six years later he moved to San Francisco to open a store and soon discovered an opportunity to apply what he knew to make rough pants for gold miners.
Go to the Source
The words a leader uses and the acts they do are only clues to how they think. Each person has a historical perspective and a point of view, or a lens, they often look at the world in which they function. Unless you get close enough to hear a superior leader breathe, you will never have a chance to learn and distinguish those things.
How a leader thinks is the key to understanding how they take information, treat it, and send it, like encouragement. Until you understand the source of what they say and do, you omit the key ingredient that will allow you to duplicate your successful operation.
Top leaders in any area of expertise require years to apply and acquire what they know to function at peak levels. Be patient. A need for speed defeats success. Take the time to build relationships and learn from the best, and allow the breath to go its natural way. Do not rush it or you will hyperventilate and feel dizzy. Let go of email and the Internet, and fix it to spend long periods of time working side by side with the leaders you want to learn from. Breathe the same air enough and one day you will find others impatient doubling your excellence too.
