Three Minute Leadership: Being Unlike Anyone Who Has Come Before You
To: The Great Leaders Who Have a Passion for Continuous Learning
A friend recently shared with me a “Study Hacks Blog” which speaks about comedian Steve Martin’s memoir, Born Standing Up, in which Martin describes the key to his success. His message to great leaders is a simple one: “Be so good they can’t ignore you.” The author writes: “It simplifies the quest. Forget all the frustration, the tricks, and the worry. Just focus on becoming good. Really damn good. Outstanding. Unlike anyone who has come before you.”
Martin has two ways for applying his “method”: Intellectualize and Don’t Wander. For Martin, “simply putting in the time is not enough.” Through Intellectualize, he wanted to change things – go beyond the standard punch line which was popular at the time. He innovated, looked at the best practices and then chose to “reconstruct these elements into something new and even better.” With respect to Don’t Wander, it was about being keenly focused on his passion – “staying diligent in his interest in the one field he was trying to master….if you don’t saturate your life in a single quest, you’ll dilute your focus to a point where becoming outstanding becomes out of reach.”
Martin’s perspectives are wonderfully captured in the counsel given by W. Edwards Deming, American statistician and author: “It is not enough to do your best; you must know what to do, and then do your best.” So, know what you do, seek to find the infinite possibilities within it and then choose to be not simply your best … choose more than your best: choose to be more than you ever dreamed you could be. And have fun doing it.
Have a beautiful day and a magnificent week!!!
Mike