Concept
The will to win is an important part of effective leadership. This will, desire, can be focused on beating the competition or on accomplishing an internally generated vision. The former may push one to becoming a highly effective manager, but the second will push one to becoming a leader. In the absence of vision, a determined person can play a powerful lieutenant role in getting things done—things that are imagined by the inside-out visionary leader.
We say in taekwondo, “a black belt is a white belt who never gave up.” Persistence is every bit as important as vision. No matter how difficult the next step may seem, those who succeed choose to take that next step and conquer it.
Where does this drive come from? Perhaps some of it is brain chemistry— a little bit of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) can be helpful in pushing each project through to completion. A bit of attention deficit disorder (ADD) can divert one’s determination with the allure of alternative projects. Early childhood training surely contributes. Children taught to finish what they begin may have more persistent behavioral patterns than those who were not imbued with that principle. And some people for whatever reason are possessed with what taekwondo-kas call indomitable will. Never, never, never give up.
Applied to business projects, this can be a good thing; applied to losing endeavors, it can be very dysfunctional. So, here is another paradox/dilemma. Be determined to finish and know when and where to apply this determination. Working hard to finish an uncompetitive project is just a waste of time and energy. Knowing the difference is part strategy and part wisdom.
Determined people tend to focus on the end result while those who give up focus more on the immediate hurdle. When you begin something, check your commitment to the end goal. How important is it to you? If it’s really important, the short-term speed bumps that come along may be difficult, but they won’t derail you. Whatever it takes.
Example
Malcolm Gladwell in his book, Outliers, explored the difference between North American and Chinese children in their determination to solve problems.22 The research showed that Chinese children tended to spend more time striving to solve math problems than their North American counterparts. Gladwell asserted that this had to do with being raised in a rice culture in which significant determination and persistence are required to bring the rice crop to fruition—compared with the increasingly sound bite culture of North America based on cell phones, 140 character tweets, and handheld calculators.
Navy SEAL BUDS training is notorious for the ways that it tests one’s determination. In the face of insurmountable obstacles, BUDS instructors want to know how far each person will go. Can they exercise their will over their bodies and the situation surrounding them? Can they impose their will on the world around them?
The story of the trans-continental railroad in America is a powerful one. President Abraham Lincoln in the midst of a terrible civil war had the prescience to support and nudge the development of a project that was too expensive, too difficult, impossible, and hard to even imagine. The leaders of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads and those that worked for them demonstrated enormous determination in overcoming political, geographic, financial, engineering, labor, and business hurdles to link the east and west coasts by rail, reduce travel time from months to days, and secure the United States’ claim to the territories of California, Oregon, and Washington.
Diagram
1. Describe the biggest project you have ever completed. What did it take to finish it?
2. Describe a time when you gave up. What happened and why?
3. On a scale of 1 to 10, rate your average level of determination. How often do you say, “Ah, that’s good enough.”
4. How much of your life do you spend working on other people’s goals rather than your own? (time spent working on other people’s goals/168. 168 = hours in a week.)
5. What is the biggest thing in your life now that you are determined to do?
22 https://amazon.com/Outliers-Story-Success-Malcolm-Gladwell-ebook/dp/B001ANYDAO/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1488639420&sr=1-1&keywords=malcolm+gladwell+books