The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable on Real Success in Business and in (10 page)

“Are you actually suggesting that it’s easier to work at mastery than at ordinary, Anna?” I wondered aloud.

“That’s a great way to language it, Blake. And yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. There’s a lot less competition on the extra mile because so few people even believe they can play there—many fewer commit to spending their careers there. And so, as you say, it actually becomes
easier
to be there.”

“I guess most of us are too afraid to set lofty, ambitious ones and and then fail,” I suggested.

“Correct, Blake. But why play the game if you’re not in it to win it? I’d encourage you to set the standard of being BIW in the work you do and within the life you live.”

“BIW? No idea what that means, Anna.” I replied. “And, man, you guys love your acronyms.”

“I know,” Anna agreed. “They become addictive after a while, Blake. And they really do form a whole leadership language of sorts that those of us Leading Without a Title begin to speak to each other. Anyway, BIW just means Best in World. In my work here at this hotel, I continually ask myself a very powerful self-coaching question: ‘What would the person who is the best in the world at what I do be doing in this very moment?’ Once I get the answer, I immediately refocus myself and get down to the business of doing only that which will create the largest results and the biggest impact. My goal here, each and every day, is to be the best in the world at my craft of housekeeping. And that’s how I continually move closer toward mastery,” Anna shared confidently.

“You really do see housekeeping as a craft, don’t you?”

“Absolutely. It
is
a craft to me. And so I work at it every day—to get better and reach more of my hidden genius. I continually challenge myself to outperform the me of yesterday. I am so dedicated to getting to mastery as a housekeeper. That idea so turns me on! And I should mention that being extraordinary in your work is one of the true secrets of happiness.”

“Seriously?”

“Definitely.
Few things feel as good as the pride you feel on a job masterfully done.
And doing world-class work is also part of the purpose of life, you know?” said Anna, sounding a little philosophical.

“How so?” I asked with great interest, as so many of the struggles I’d faced personally over the past years were because I felt no purpose in life.

“
Work offers you a daily platform to discover the leader within. It’s a chance, every day, to reclaim more of the potential you’ve buried and to awaken the dormant relationship between the current you and your absolute best. It’s an opportunity to express more of your latent creativity and a whole lot more of your precious humanity.
And presenting more of the genius and brilliance you truly are to those around you so that, in your own special way, you help more people, is pretty much the main purpose of life. And that’s why I suggest that doing world-class work is also part of the central purpose of life.”

I grew silent. I looked over at Tommy, who still appeared unsettled though he had a wise expression on his face. He was nodding in agreement with Anna’s words. In that moment, it struck me that work wasn’t at all something that is merely a vehicle to pass the time and pay my bills. It was a gift. And a spectacular way to access my leadership best, and in so doing, not only become a happier human being, but also to make the world a better place in the process.

“Oh, I should also confirm—in case you have
any
doubt—that every one of us has the potential to be
geniuses
at what we do. Most of us just don’t believe this truth. But
beliefs are nothing more than thoughts we’ve repeated over and over until we’ve made them into personal truths.
And the really sad thing is that
every belief inevitably becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy
. Whether you think something is possible or impossible, you’ll most certainly be right. Because your belief determines your behavior.
The real truth is that each one of us has pure genius within us. But we all set up these blocks between who we currently are and all we are meant to be. Blocks like our limiting beliefs about our abilities and barriers like all the daily distractions we fill our lives with that, in the end, amount to nothing. One of the best moves you can make is to methodically remove all the walls standing between you and your genius, which will lead to you becoming more intimate with your very best you.”

Anna continued, her voice rising with passion: “A key element of the quest to be your leadership best is to become more connected to those moments where your natural genius most fully presents itself. Live for those moments and you’ll begin to experience more of them. And by the way, Blake, if you really owned how awesome you are, you’d probably be in shock for days. All but the greatest among us have
disowned
the brilliance we house within ourselves and buried the creative giant that is our true nature. People don’t work and live at average because they are average. They behave that way because they’ve forgotten who they truly are. They’ve actually bought into the false thoughts the people around them have taught them and started to perceive themselves as ‘un-special’ and ‘non-genius.’ And because that’s how they now view themselves, they now act in that way.
Remember, Blake, you will never behave in a way that’s inconsistent with your self-image.
Your thought choices determine your performance results. Your mental architecture and the way you process outer conditions will elevate you to mastery or cause you to sink into mediocrity. So see yourself as capable of nothing less than brilliant.”

“Because belief about my lack of ‘awesomeness’ and inability to play at mastery becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, right?” I asked.

“Right,” said Anna. “Successful people have successful thinking patterns and the best leaders run superb leadership habits.
A number of studies have confirmed that it takes about ten thousand hours to become a master at something.”

“Never heard that before, but sounds intriguing,” I offered. “Let’s hear more.”

“I first read about it in an article in
The Harvard Business Review
entitled ‘The Making of an Expert’ and it’s a powerful idea. The feature was on how top performers in fields ranging from athletics to music create their stellar results. It revealed that every world-class expert had one thing in common: they’d each invested approximately ten thousand hours polishing their skill. The learning point for us is that each of us has the potential to arrive at a place of mastery in the work we do. But it generally takes about ten thousand hours of focused effort and deliberate practice on a specific craft to reach BIW.”

“Best in World,” I stated, recalling the meaning of Anna’s acronym.

“Yes, Blake. The world’s best golfers have spent about ten thousand hours on their golfing performance to get to world-class at their game. The world’s best scientists have immersed themselves in their subject for about ten thousand hours, and that devotion has made them appear so brilliant. The world’s best artists have spent roughly ten thousand hours tightly concentrated on practicing their skills—and given that intensity of action, they reach the point where they play at genius.
So focus married with time produces mastery.
We
all
, as Leaders without a Title, have the ability to get to this seemingly unreachable place. Unfortunately, most of us not only disbelieve we can, but we also fail to put in the time required to do so.”

“Such helpful insights, Anna.”

“Thanks for the appreciation, Blake. If more people understood how great they could be, businesses, communities, and nations—organizations of every type—would operate at vastly superior levels of performance. Now here’s the real thing: ten
thousand hours in a normal life that involves sleeping and spending time with people and other such daily pursuits adds up to about ten years. So the ten-thousand-hour idea could just as easily be called the Ten-Year Rule. You really need to focus on the particular job you want mastery at for about ten years. That’s the little-known formula for genuine world-class success: ten years of focused effort and consistent practice. But how many people are willing to do that in this quick-fix world of ours? Everyone wants the rewards right now. Yet mastery takes time, effort, and patience. And too many among us just don’t make that commitment. Or they give up too early. And then they wonder why they never became superstars in their work.”

“And rather than taking personal responsibility for their failure to do what it takes, they make excuses and blame things like their boss or the competitive nature of the industry they’re in or the people they have to work with or the turbulent times around us,” I added.

“That’s it, Blake. Or they blame their parents or their histories or the weather. Interesting how human beings protect themselves—and in so doing, destroy themselves. The only weather that matters is the weather within you. And the only economy that matters is the economy between your two ears.”

“I get it completely, Anna. Ultimately, each one of us alone is responsible for how we respond to the environment we find ourselves in. We can choose to reply to every scenario we face at wow. Or we can retreat into average and stay stuck in the negative. And along with the excuses we tend to make, we also allow ourselves to get distracted by a million little things that ultimately amount to nothing.”

“Yes, and that’s just another tactic to avoid having to put in the focus and time to get to mastery. Procrastination is just another form of fear. Yet look at any pro athlete. They’ve spent the best hours of the best years of their lives making the sacrifices
demanded by BIW. They got up early. They trained relentlessly. They practiced ferociously. While others watched television, they watched game tapes. While others ate pizza, they ate salads. While others were in warm beds, they were out running on cold days. But they were willing to do it. For their chance at greatness. To have a peek at their genius. And to realize more of their leadership best. Look at any superstar. Each of these people has one thing in common. They focused on getting really good at their craft for more than ten years. They paid the price that success demands. They did
whatever
it took to get the job done. And so now the world calls them ‘special’ or ‘gifted.’ Not true at all!” Anna exclaimed.

“We
all
have that capability within us. Few of us have the awareness and then the discipline to exercise it. And so we coast through our lives mired in mediocrity. Pretty sad, huh?” Anna asked, as she wiped a finger along a tabletop to check for any hint of dust.

“Very sad,” I agreed. “Such a colossal waste of human talent. And all of this new information really does allow me to see my work at the bookstore so differently. Just hearing it all and the way you view your work here at this hotel is such a big leap for me. I now understand that I have the potential to be
pure genius
at bookselling.”

“Careful now, Tiger,” said Tommy affectionately. “Sounds like you have some plans to knock me off my top spot and head down to the Caribbean with a boatload of cash.”

“Actually, Tommy, that’s exactly what I’m starting to think about,” I responded, only half-joking. “Ever since I returned from the war, I haven’t had any goals. I’ve had no sense of direction in my career. I really haven’t had anything that gave me a reason to jump out of bed in the morning and start the fire of mastery within me. Honestly, Anna, you’ve really flipped the switch for me. Thank you so much.”

“Of course, it’s my pleasure, Blake the Great. I only hope that
you’ll tell everyone you know about the Lead Without a Title philosophy. Please. And also remember that all these ideas need to be acted on
instantly
if you are interested in seeing excellent results.
Ideas are ultimately worthless unless you activate them with focused and consistent action. The best leaders never leave the site of a good idea without doing something—no matter how small—to breathe some life into it. Lots of people have good ideas. But the masters become masters because they had the courage and conviction to act on ideas.
‘A powerful idea is absolutely fascinating and utterly useless until we choose to use it,’ wrote Richard Bach.
What really makes greatness is white-hot action around red-hot ideas.
A genius idea alone has zero value. What makes it priceless is the quality of follow-through and the speed of execution around the genius idea. Actually, even a mediocre idea excellently acted on is more valuable than a genius idea poorly performed. Just starting something—whether that’s a new initiative that will better your business or extending a hand to a teammate you used to compete with—is such an intelligent move. Yes, that first step is the hardest. But once you take it, it’ll only get easier. And every positive step that follows sets yet another positive consequence into play. Just start whatever it is that you know you need to do to take your work as well as your life to where you know it can be. I call this concept the Courage of the Start. Starting truly is the hardest part. Beginning is half the battle. So that takes all your will and inner strength. But then it gets easier. Small consistent steps to drive momentum.
Daily ripples of excellence—over time—become a tsunami of success.
Every action has a consequence. Things start to move forward. Doors you didn’t know existed begin to open for you. Success is so much a numbers game. The more action you take, the more results you’ll see.”

“I remember reading that the space shuttle uses more fuel during its first three minutes after liftoff than during its entire voyage around the earth,” I observed.

“Nice metaphor, Blake,” Anna said cheerfully. “That first step truly is always the hardest. Because you are fighting the forces of gravity of your old thinking and habits. No human being likes change. We do love predictability. So anything new scares us and sets our internal systems into varying degrees of confusion and chaos. But you can’t reach mastery unless you are always willing to take action to move things forward. A practical tool for you to use is what I call ‘The Daily 5.’ Imagine doing five little yet important focused acts every day to get you closer to your most important goals.”