One of my boys recently had a tough soccer game, the opposition were clearly more experienced and the scoreline reflected it! It was interesting observing the individual players during the game, some boys gave up early on in the piece whilst others fought hard to the end – clearly not focused on the score.
I’m a big believer that sport (and business) does not build leaders, it finds them. There are moments that show this clearly – being beaten by >10 goals is one of those moments!
So what makes someone a leader in times of duress? What makes someone stand up when the chips are down? Allow me to answer the question with a business hypothetical…
Sales person 1 needs the sale to feed their family. Sales person 2 doesn’t need the sale. They are equally prepared, so who gets sale?
Research suggests sales person 2 is more likely. That might sound strange but reflect on how successful you were in your youth when desperately chasing love!!
Detaching from the outcome is becoming an increasingly familiar concept in leadership development literature. There is something very powerful that happens when we can detach from outcome. It anchors energy into the process, into the activities that lead to the outcome, into what we can control. Alternatively, when we attach to an outcome we are at the mercy of it, which often creates frantic energy and leads to highly reactive activity.
Put simply, effective Leaders spend more time focused on ‘source’ activities and allow results to be the outcome.