Eric is a great partner in dealing with leadership and management issues.
Trying to Win
Over the past year, I have gotten into bike racing (that’s road bicycles, not motorcycles). So get ready for a new theme in this and future Performance Principles. After a year of training and finishing well behind the pack, I finally succeeded in finishing in the top 10 racers. My goal is now to finish first. So I asked an experienced cyclist what I needed to do to win. He laughed and said that in order to win, you have to try to win. Then he told me about his friend, a professional-caliber rider. This man says that of 100 riders who line up for an elite race, only 15 or so are actually trying to win the race. Everyone else is focused on some other objective such as enjoying the experience or just finishing (no small accomplishment).
Performance Principle: Victory is an accomplishment, not an accident. If you are going to win, you have to set your mind on that goal. Your behavior will be subtly but vitally different if you are aiming to win rather than just finish. If you are willing to push yourself to focus on winning, not just finishing, you might be surprised at what you are capable of accomplishing.
Questions to Consider:
- Is your team trying to win or are they just trying to finish?
- How can you as a leader raise the goals and objectives of your team?
- If your goal was no less than victory, how would that affect your actions? What would you do differently?
- What is one immediate step that your team will commit to achieving on the path to winning your overall race?
