LWN 09 / 2023 is the third in a three-part series on the PRACTICE of influential leadership .
[A] Practice is the act of rehearsing a behaviour repeatedly, to help learn and eventually master a skill. The word derives from the Greek “πρακτική” (praktike), feminine of “πρακτικός” (praktikos), “fit for or concerned with action, practical”, and that from the verb “πράσσω” (prasso), “to achieve, bring about, effect, accomplish”.
‘A PRACTICE’ and ‘to PRACTICE’ happen in both the physical and mental realms — they are inseparable. However, we seem to me moved more easily by what we see people do than what we gather through our other senses. This is probably because when our eyes witness something, we tend to find it less effortful to believe and trust. We even have the saying, ‘seeing is believing’.
We think, we choose and then we act.
The clock stopped at 3:59.4 .
That is 24 km/h over a distance of 1,609.344 meters.
On a cold windy evening on 6 May 1954 Roger Bannister became the first person to dip below the four-minute mile barrier .*
What had seemed impossible since the dawn of humankind was possible .
But, the time was not Bannister’s greatest achievement .
His 3:59.4 record has tumbled ongoing, but the legacy of a man who broke his own, and others’ mental barriers lives forever .
Bannister’s profound and everlasting gift is what he did for all of us, for all time.
He reset our notion of what is possible — he broke our mental barriers — not just for athletes, but for all of us, and for everything that we do, and imagine doing.
Read more here
To test the point:
Since Bannister’s record-breaking run, on average, two additional people** have accomplished this feat every month -— for 68 years!
So, what took hundreds of thousands of years to achieve, is now almost commonplace!
Leadership is like that:
It transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary .
It breaks barriers to reveal the possible .
It translates questions into solutions .
It shapes the future for the better .
(Yes, it also keeps the lights on!)
Bannister’s achievements — mental and physical — are aligned with principles found at the heart of influential leadership:
He set a goal — he had huge ambition. He was self-aware, courageous and purposeful .
He gave enormous thought to what others had done before, he tested ideas, he was prepared to be unconventional. He was questioning, and thoughtful .
He had to get himself physically and mental fit to be in a position to do what none had done before. It was the culmination of others’ attempts and lessons, and his personal preparation . He equipped himself to achieve — it was not luck.
He took others along . On that historic day he enjoyed the direct support of two other runners as pacesetters. He appreciated he could not do it alone. We accomplish much more together than otherwise. But that never diminishes the need to compete, with the clock or others. However, the objective is for all of us to be better, to go further and faster.
He did his run in the glare of publicity. He might have missed the mark on that day, but he nevertheless put himself in the spotlight. He was ready to try again should he have needed to. He was hopeful .
He did not let the circumstances get the better of him — he ran on a ‘cold windy evening’, weather unconducive for record runs. Leaders turn their world while the world is turning them. He took responsibility.
We each have ongoing four-minute miles in our lives — in our relationships, homes, teams, workplaces, communities, and country — these are our leadership moments .
If we do not recognise them as leadership moments — we fail.
If we see them yet let them slide past — we fail.
If we acknowledge them, and apply our influential leadership capability to them, we never fail, even if we fall.
Influential leadership starts with re-setting our mental barriers, followed by what we do in our lived lives — wherever we are.
Influential leaders break barriers because we take responsibility for what we think, what we choose and what we do.
Be ambitious this week — run your sub-four-minute miles!
Regards,Colin Donian Shaping lives for the better
* Officially.
** There are several athletes who have run multiple sub-four minutes miles, so the number of runs is larger than the number of runners. E.g., Steve Scott has run it 136 times.
