An Animal With An Amazing Talent
Pang Pha is an Asian elephant who has grown up at the Berlin Zoo. What makes Pang so interesting to discuss from a leadership perspective is a unique skill she has developed. You see Pang has the special ability to peel bananas with the tip of her trunk.
Don’t believe me? Read this article and watched the attached video.
Michael Brecht, neuroscientist at Humboldt University in Berlin, said, “It’s quite skillful. She clearly optimized the behavior.”
It is Brecht’s last statement which caught my attention. “She clearly optimized the behavior.” As leaders, we must learn to optimize our behavior as well.
A Hall of Fame Player
Recently, I was reading the 1972 National Football League Hall Of Fame induction speech of Gino Marchetti by then Baltimore Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom. Rosenbloom gave a great picture into what is needed to optimize your talents, abilities, and yes, your leadership.
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If you are not familiar with Marchetti let me introduce you. He played defensive end for the Dallas Texans (now Dallas Cowboys) and Baltimore Colts. When the NFL announced its all-star team for their first 50 years, Marchetti was picked as the finest player ever at his position.
The following are excerpts from Rosenbloom’s speech. Leaders, regardless of your profession, we can learn much from this football legend. First is the quote, followed by the lesson.
8 Traits Of People Who Optimize Their Leadership
- “An outstanding and unending commitment to excellence” – For leaders to optimize their behavior, the standards they set for themselves must be higher than any set by others.
- “A willingness to submerge himself individually within a group effort” – Are you more interested in your personal success or that of your teams you lead? The goal of top level leaders is to get your entire team to optimize their behavior.
- “Courage” – You cannot separate leadership from courage. Leadership requires taking one more step into a future that is unknown. For more on the subject of courage read Bear Attacks Mountain Climber: 6 Lessons On Courage We Learn From It.
- “An acceptance of pain” – There are perks to leadership and there is a price to leadership. To optimize your leadership, you have to be willing to pay the price of pain.
- “A love for what he is doing” – To fully optimize your leadership you must love what you do.
- “A notation of achievement” – What is your leadership marked by? Is it marked by achievement or constant disappointment?
- “Respect for worthy adversaries” – We live in a competitive world and you are not up against chopped liver out there. The quality of your achievement is largely determined by the level of your competition and what is needed for you to achieve success.
- “The realization that not all in life can be success and victorious” – Those who optimize their leadership are not the ones who never get knocked down. They are the ones who simply keep getting back up one again and again.
Conclusion
Leaders, how many of these eight traits do you have? The answer to that question will largely determine how well you can optimize your leadership.
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