To be
honest, I am not a big fan of professional sports in that I prefer college
efforts for a variety of reasons. But this time of year, however, I channel my
inner southerner (after all, I was born in Georgia and went to college in North
Carolina!) and focus on NASCAR. I do this because it is exciting to watch and
appears to be the last professional sports arena where 1) the fans are viewed
as an asset and not an obligation and 2) the athlete drivers
still understand that they are role models to young people and have NOT ABDICATED
THEIR RESPONSIBILITY TO DO SO (seriously, don’t get me started on that)! The
opening race of the season is the Daytona 500 where the winning driver led just
one lap! This got me thinking out loud about the value of FULL EFFORT!
To set
the stage, the Daytona 500 is not only the first race of the NASCAR season is
also the biggest! It is full of pageantry, celebrities, patriotism, and
incredibly loud cars! Essentially it is like playing the Super Bowl or Game 7 as
the first game of the season as opposed to the last. The winner of the race was
Kurt Busch and whereas he is a former Cup Series champion and competitive in
most races, the ONLY lap he led was the FINAL lap but that was all he needed to
win the race! This is similar to the recent Super Bowl win of the New England
Patriots in that the only second they led the ENTIRE game was the last second
they scored to win the game!
Clearly,
there is a lesson here for ALL of us on both the INDIVIDUAL and ORGANIZATIONAL
level as to the value of FULL EFFORT and holding to the belief that it is not
over until it’s over! FULL EFFORT, however, is not solely a matter of will. It
requires some key components that MUST BE PRESENT before the game even begins
or the race even starts.
Resource Management – if you
are not familiar with the sport, NASCAR cars operate at the highest tolerances
possible and are often driven to their mechanical and safety limits. Driver
Kurt Busch and his #41 race team had to carefully steward their car, tires, and
other equipment resources so that they could be in a position to win when it
counted. The same is true for us as leaders. Regardless of our enterprise, we
must be STRATEGIC and TACTICAL stewards of the resources we have available so
that they are present and available when we most need them.
Talent Management – a race
team is more than just its driver. It has a host of key leaders and staff who
play critical roles; from the fabricators and engineers that build the cars to
the pit crew and crew chief that support the driver on race day. Along with
these key personnel are marketing and competition directors that make sure the significant
financial needs of a race team are met. Just like a race team, we need to make
sure we have assembled the best TALENT we can but we also nave to ALIGN that
talent to meet our enterprise goals and aspirations.
Energy Management – as
peak performance consultant and author Jim Loehr proposes, success is more of a
condition of ENERGY MANAGEMENT versus time management. Just like any top
athlete, we must pace our efforts so that we have what we need when it most
counts. This requires us to equip ourselves, build our capacities, renew and
recharge our personal, spiritual, and physical energy, and balance our lives as
best we can so that when that crucial moment comes, we have the energy to push
us over the finish line!
Opportunity Management –
legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden often stated, “there is no such
thing as luck.” “Success”, he would go on to say “is when PREPARATION meets
OPPORTUNITY!” Clearly Kurt Busch waited for his opportunity. He used his driving
skills to avoid accidents and “save his car” for the end of the race. His his
crew chief Tony Gibson used great strategy to make sure they would be in a
position to win as the race came to a close. Again, the lessons are obvious to
both individuals and organizations in that we need to do all the hard work on
the front end so that we are PREPARED when the right OPPORTUNITY presents
itself at just the right time!
So, the bottom line is
this. Operating on the principle of FULL EFFORT takes a great deal of
pre-thought and effort. It requires us to sacrifice short term advantages for
long term benefits. As individuals and organizations, we must be willing to do
what others do not so that we take the checkered flag at the end of the day!
Granted, I may be just a bit too enthused
that the NASCAR season has started but you guys are all leadership rock starts
so you get the point!!
As always if I can help you and the
people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would invite
you to email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the training or
coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact! Also, as a bonus, if you go
to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will
send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your
organization! Such an initiative would be critical to add value to your
organization!
Yours in Leadership (and
still walking both roads!),
Bill Faulkner
Principal Consultant –
Out Loud Strategies
Independent Coach,
Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team TM
Email = bill@outloudinc.com
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