Do you suppose
Michael Phelps’ 4x200 freestyle relay teammates shared his purpose, his pursuit of that 19th
Olympic medal?
One way or
another, they did. The most recent, a gold medal followed on the heels of a
silver. By most accounts that silver medal should have been a gold - had he not fallen back on an old habit of
gliding rather than pushing for those last few milliseconds, losing by 0.05 of
a second in the ‘200 butterfly.’
The USA team
took the relay in what appeared to be an effortless manner.
The press reported it this way, “The relay wasn’t close.”
Quoting Phelps, “I told those guys I wanted a big lead…You better give me a big
lead (grinning widely) and they gave it to me…I just wanted to hold on and I
thanked them for being able to allow me to have this moment.
It may go
without saying that, as individuals, each member of that team had their own
reasons for meeting the challenge but, at the same time, all had a shared
purpose and shared fate. The met it head-on in London.
John
Langhorne, in his book, Beyond Luck, enumerates certain characteristics
that successful leaders share and in his words, “They create a purpose.” Of course
that’s not profound as many have spoken and written on the topic in a variety
of ways. Add to this statement, Langhorne wrote, “Leaders build motivation by
communicating a mission, a sense of direction or even a small set of explicit
goals” and the thought process comes full-circle.
Phelps did
that. Successful leaders do it as well.
Clarity of
purpose and clarity of fate go hand-in-hand. “Here’s what we have to gain and
here’s how we’re going to get it,” is the charge that must, at the same,
include an understanding and clearly communicated, “This is what it will look
like if we lose or fail to execute the plan.” Obviously, a well thought out
plan has to exist along with the clearly defined shared purpose and shared
fate.
At the Saga
Institute, Don Schmincke has spent years researching shared purposes and shared
fates both of peace-time and war exercises. High Altitude Leadership
puts his findings in the context of what it means to business and how leaders
frequently fail to communicate and clarify this notion of shared purpose and
shared fate.
Gliding along
to a well-defined finish line doesn’t cut it. Phelps can attest to that.
First Coast
News
John E.
Langhorne
Don Schmincke
Jim Naleid
is a Life-long Entrepreneur,
Change-Agent and Thought Leader, Managing Director of Naleid & Associates
and Regional TEC (“The
Executive Committee”) Chair leading a group of executives to become Better
Leaders, Making Better Decisions with Better Results. http://www.linkedin.com/in/jimnaleid
