Order of Magnitude CEOs

You can do anything for 30 Seconds - How to Complete Something Terribly Hard for You Yet Incredibly Important

I completed P90X this morning.  If you are unfamiliar with P90X it is a 90-day/13-week “extreme” fitness routine.  I started in February, about 3 weeks after making my personal health declaration public in a blog post.  For me, the program should be called P135X as I was not able to do the program every day; I finished earlier today or about 135 days after I began.

The purpose of this blog is not to focus on the benefits of the P90X routine, email me if you are interested, but rather the way it is constructed so that somebody who is extremely motivated with the end result of getting in shape but doesn’t enjoy daily exercising could end up finishing the program. 

The key: interim goals nested inside interim goals…

Here is the breakdown of the interim goals that leads to the completion of the P90X program:

A. The 90 days are broken down into 13 weeks   (“All I have to do is finish 1 week” vs. “90 days seems like a long time”)

B. Each week is broken down into 7 days consisting of an exercise regimen that lasts somewhere between 50 minutes and 90 minutes (“All I have to do to finish today is to exercise for the next 60 minutes and then I get to have my recovery drink”)

C. Each daily routine consists of numerous mini-exercise sets lasting for a few minutes each (“All I have to do is finish these 4 exercise sets and then I get a water break”)

D. Each mini-exercise set consists of a handful of exercises that typically last between 30 seconds to 2 ½ minutes long  (“All I have to do is finish this 30 second exercise and then I will be on to something new”)

So, to complete the P90X program, I sometimes just took it 30 seconds at a time or as Tony Horton, the exercise trainer who leads the workouts says, “You can do anything for 30 seconds.”

Or

To fulfill the ambitions you have for your firm, first clarify those ambitions so it is incredibly important for you. Then figure out what you need to do next to get there – even if it is 30 seconds at a time.

The Tiger Woods, Oops, I meant to say Peyton Manning CEO

Image via Wikipedia

 

Image via Wikipedia

 

With the first anniversary of the Tiger Woods accident in a few days and Peyton Manning on national TV this past weekend it is fitting for me to briefly retell what happened to me shortly after the Tiger Woods accident. 

I was speaking to a small group of ambitious CEOs, and as I usually do, I started to describe the three kinds of CEOs that are most interested in declaring an exciting and valuable future for themselves and their companies:

1.  The First Time Serial CEO – this is the CEO that wants to sell her business, so she can immediately get on to her next big idea.

2.  The CEO Who Prefers to Work ON Their Business – this is the CEO who seeks to stop working IN their business all the time.

This concept is based on a wonderful book by Michael Gerber called E-Myth, about a bakery store owner who learns about the great entrepreneurial myth, that working “In your business” is not nearly as important as working “On your business.”

And,

3.  The Tiger Woods CEO - this is the CEO that seeks to master the game of being a business owner.

As you can tell, my third descriptor no longer worked, unless I am looking for laughs, which obviously I got, as it immediately conjured up images that I did not intend when I originally thought of the analogy a few years earlier.

So then, I started thinking which current celebrity athlete best embodies that third type of CEO.  A person who performs their chosen craft not for money, not for fame, and not for power, but for the pure enjoyment of working on their craft to be the best they can be.  In other words, Peyton Manning (and that’s coming from a lifetime New York Jets fan).

A “Peyton Manning” CEO treats being a CEO just like any other hobby where your personal goal is just to be the best you can be.  In golf, it is lowering your handicap; in tennis it is increasing your rating and for owners – it is about increasing the long-term value of their company. 

If being the best CEO you can be and all it entails is not your primary purpose in your role as CEO, perhaps it should be.

Elevate Individual Performance One Specific Action and Compliment at a Time

Both my daughters are playing Soccer this fall on Saturday mornings.  Depending on the day, I may act as an assistant coach for my oldest daughter’s team, coached by Coach Rick for the past several years.  Coach Rick installed a hustle award at the beginning of the season.  Basically, at the end of each game, the player that hustled the most gets their name written on the “Hustle” Soccer ball with an accolade from Coach Rick and then she gets to take the soccer ball home for one week.  The first few weeks were easy for Coach Rick as he gave it to the best players on the team who actually do hustle the most (side note – funny how that works).

One of the girls on the team, Becky, almost did not join soccer and had been lethargic through most of the games.  She was the first one to offer to take a break, would only kick the ball if it came right to her, and was one of the girls most likely to chat with her friends while the game was on.  I happened to notice a few weeks back, Becky had more than a few balls come her way while she was on defense.  Becky made some “accidental” kicks that thwarted the other team.  She got a smile on her face of “did I do that” even before the “Nice Becky” emanated from the chorus of “Minivan Soccer Parents” (myself included) and Coach Rick.  Ensuing weeks progressed and I could see Becky become more aggressive; she started to go proactively after the ball more and got additional accolades from the coaches and parents.  Last week was the breakthrough.  After having her best first half of the season, at the start of the 2^nd half Becky  got the ball slightly before midfield and dribbled all the way downfield before launching a relatively hard shot at the goalie.   SAVE.   Becky trotted back with a triumphant look on her face.  Even though the shot was blocked, she was rightfully excited about her play.  Later, after the game ended, and Coach Rick gathered the girls for the hustle award I had no doubt who would get the hustle award and Becky’s teammates had no doubt as well.

As you build your team, although it is easier to spot fault or criticism in an individual’s performance, don’t forget to publicly and privately consistently spot and reinforce great decisions or moves or “hustle” from an individual to get more and more of the behavior you want.  We all like it, whether it is a little girl playing soccer or a senior executive, sincerely praising a specific action (as opposed to a generic “good job”) can keep your employees on the virtuous path of elevating their game one specific action and compliment at a time. 

Struggling To Build A Sales Team? Work On It Until It Clicks

I am in a Tennis Drills class that I attend roughly once every two weeks.  During the 90 minute workout we typically work on our forehand, backhand, some net play, and our serve.  This lasts about an hour, the last 30 minutes is reserved for a short singles or doubles match.  It is a good work out and I have noticed an improvement in my game as has a friend that I occasionally play with, “You hit the ball harder now” is the way he characterized it.

One aspect of my game that has not improved as much as I would like is my serve.  I am 6’ 4” tall and so opponents that have not played me before expect a booming serve.  I can see a sense of relief when they see me warm up and that my serve is at-best, quite average.

Since joining the instructional class, I reworked my serve and I am in the midst of learning to consistently hit it harder and in the box.  There are a number of other people in the group that also work on their serve with some having had tremendous success.  There is one person though who has the worst serve in the group and also works on his serve the least.  I speculate that he has basically given up.  The funny part is that he is at the stage where he can have the greatest improvement.  The serve just has to click for him.   Think about any learned skill and the greatest improvement is typically made at the beginning stage once you breakthrough, once it clicks.

The concept of waiting for something to click is not a new thing.  We have all witnessed it in ourselves and in others.  My older daughter started reading last year while in Kindergarten.  It was a very frustrating time for her as well as for my wife and me.  If she couldn’t read a word she would immediately guess or worse put the book down and quit.  This went on for what seemed like an incredibly long time, I speculate it was only a month, and then finally it clicked and she could read.  A month later I couldn’t believe how many words she knew and now in 1st grade I am blown away with how far she has come along.  This is not about praising my daughter or the teacher as I know all children go through this process of struggle and then it suddenly clicks when it comes to reading.  After it clicks, it’s much easier to make progress.  The same thing happened when I taught my daughter to ride her bicycle.  Luckily we went through all the ups and downs in one day.

The problem with waiting for something to click is that sometimes without encouragement from others, we do not have the patience, so we give up.  Back in the1990’s when I was learning to snowboard I was very close to quitting after having fallen a number of times and being physically exhausted.  Luckily, a friend who had learned a few years before me, gave some great advice, wait until it “clicks” as he went up the lift.  Without believing that it would click for me, I might have given up.

What today have you tried without having much success and  have very little competence that if it clicked would create Order of Magnitude Value for you: Hiring/Recruiting? Presenting to Investors?  Marketing? Building a Sales Team?  Don’t give up, figure out what you need to do to get better and wait for the click!