“The solution is never to sacrifice talent by diminishing it, but always to enable it to flourish, because this is always best for the team. So, the balance must be not lowering the talent to fit the team, but rather raising the team to fit the talent.” – page 134-135 of Carlo Ancelotti’s phenomenal book Quiet Leadership: Winning hearts, minds and matches
The following are five additional lessons on elite performance every leader needs to know:
Elite Options and Results
In this issue of Culture of Sport, the contract negotiations between Stephen A. Smith and ESPN was discussed. First Take, produced and hosted by Smith, has been number one in its time slot for the last twelve years. He has also played numerous roles for the network and mentored several on-air talents.
Smith said, “If it’s aligned, we’ll work it out. If it’s not, then decisions have to be made. I expect to get paid…I’m going to work my tail off and produce results to the best of my ability.”
Smith has a number of options if a contract cannot be agreed on – his popular YouTube channel, acting, other Hollywood projects, potentially replacing Jimmy Kimmel, and with the NBA moving to NBC and Amazon, all are potential options.
Here’s the lesson – to increase your value to the organization, consistently produce elite results and develop numerous options for yourself.
Leading Elite Talent
Speaking of people who produce elite results and are going to have options, let’s discuss Missouri Tigers wide receiver and Heisman Trophy hopeful Luther Borden III. On the Saturday September 14th ESPN College Gameday, the team’s head coach Eli Drinkwitz was interviewed.
He said the key to leading an elite talent like Borden, “You have to align team goals and personal goals and mesh them together.”
What we learn from Coach Drinkwitz is you need 3 things things to successfully lead elite talent:
- Clarity – You must be clear on what your team goals are.
- Care – You must care enough about those on your team to take the time to find out what their goals are.
- Creativity – You must not be rigid in your thinking to blend personal and team goals together.
Elite Teammates
Jim Rohn once said, “You’re the average of the five people spend the most time with.” I deeply believe in this statement. Rohn’s comments are not theoretical to me. I have practiced this principle and proven it to be true. Los Angeles Dodgers veteran infielder Miguel Rojas would agree.
In this article from The Athletic, he said, “When you walk in the clubhouse, I can only talk about me as an offensive player. I have to be in the same lineup as Shohei (Ohtani), Mookie (Betts), Freddie (Freeman), Teoscar (Hernandez), I need to raise my level of play.”
What Rojas is demonstrating the Law of 5. His teammates, those he spends the most time with, are all elite offensive players. As a result, if he is going to be part of this team, he must elevate his game.
Those closest to Rojas are making him better. Are the five people you spend the most time with making you better or worse?
Elite Thinking
On Monday night, September 9th, the San Francisco 49ers defeated the New York Jets 32-19 in their first game of the season. Despite missing their top offensive player Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco easily dispatched the Jets. McCaffrey’s back-up Jordan Mason carried the ball 28 times for 147 yards and one touchdown. Time will tell if Mason is an elite running back, but it was certainly an elite performance.
What made Mason so effective?
First, Mason’s preparation was done at a high level. Coach Shanahan said in this The Athletic article, “Every day in practice he was the same and it carried over into the games. He looked like he always does.”
Second, Coach Shanahan simplified the offense. He removed complexity. Tight end George Kittle said, “Kyle can make all these awesome plays, and the cool thing about Christian is that he can do all these cool things that no one in the world can do. But we really just ran the most simple outside zones all day, whether it was a weakside run at Trent (Williams) or Colton (McKivitz) or you had two tight ends out there and we ran outside zone. It worked really, really well and I was happy for that.”
Successful leaders create simplicity for their teams be removing complexity. Do you?
Elite Vision
If you are not familiar with the Frying Pan Tower, you should be. In 1964, the Coast Guard lighthouse was built 34 miles off the North Carolina shore to keep vessels from running aground in the shallow waters known as the Frying Pan Shoals. This was such a regular occurrence the area became known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Due to GPS technology, the lighthouse became obsolete and was decommissioned in the early 1990s.
After sitting empty for approximately 20 years, Richard Neal purchased the facility in 2010 for $85,000 at a government auction.
Neal immediately repurposed the facility. It still met military and scientific needs. He said in this article, “It’s a resource for scientific research. We’ve had marine biologists out here, NASA, NOAA, people from MIT. Frying Pan can be a point to collect wave data, hurricane data, shark data… It still has value.”
But it has also become an adventure and vacation destination. Though it looks like an oil platform, this 5,000 square-foot location has eight bedrooms, an entertainment room, and the best views of marine life and the stars you will ever find. It also offers numerous aquatic adventures.
Some saw the Frying Pan Tower as a rusty, decrepit, no longer of value, former coast guard outpost. Others saw it as the ultimate adventure and vacation spot.
The lesson for all leaders is this – How you view the world and the opportunities it presents will largely determine whether you become elite or not.
For more the Frying Pan Tower, watch the feature below.
Conclusion
The following are five lessons on elite performance every leader needs to know:
- To increase your value to the organization, produce consistent results and develop a number of options for yourself.
- Do you possess the clarity, care, and creativity needed to lead elite talent?
- Are the five people you spend the most time with making you better or worse?
- Successful leaders create simplicity for their teams be removing complexity.
- How you view the world and the opportunities it presents will largely determine whether you become elite or not.
FREE Helpful Resources
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