Libsyn Directory

LTL 123: Why Winning Does Not Equal Success

Release Date: 07/15/2019

LTL 144: Global Leadership Summit Takeaways Part Four

The Leader To Leader Podcast

Nelson Mandela once said, “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” I know few people who embody that quote more than Bear Grylls. This is the fourth and final part of my key takeaways from the 2019 Global Leadership Summit. I hope you have enjoyed listening to these episodes as much as I have enjoyed recording them! I’ve tried to keep them simple, short, and practical. My intent is always to make valuable use of your time. If it’s crap, you should shut it off and I should shut it down. Fortunately, there was a massive amount of content from the Global Leadership Summit. Bear...

LTL 143: Global Leadership Summit Takeaways Part Three

The Leader To Leader Podcast

As you probably already know, this is Part Three of a series on my key takeaways from the 2019 Global Leadership Summit. I said that I would follow up with a summary of the leadership tips that I picked up during the August event and man, there was a lot to try to summarize for you! My intent was to only share the most practical and applicable points – those things you could take and then put to use immediately. Today’s episode captures my attention (and my heart!) just like it did almost five months ago during the Global Leadership Summit. I’ll do my best to convey these points with the...

LTL 142: Global Leadership Summit Takeaways Part Two

The Leader To Leader Podcast

Back in August, I attended the 2019 Global Leadership Summit and I said that I would follow up with a summary of the leadership tips that I picked up during the event. While there was so much great content, I’m only able to pick my key takeaways and share them with you in a handful of shorter episodes over the next several weeks. Each episode contains tips that you can put to use immediately. This is Part Two. The takeaways from this second episode come from Danielle Strickland. If you don’t know who Danielle is, she is a pastor, author, and justice advocate. Having spent 22 years as an...

LTL 141: Global Leadership Summit Takeaways Part One

The Leader To Leader Podcast

Back in August, I attended the 2019 Global Leadership Summit and I said that I would follow up with a summary of the leadership tips that I picked up during the event. While I’d love to share it all with you, I’m going to pick my key takeaways and share them in a handful of shorter episodes over the next several weeks. These will be tips that I believe you can put to use immediately. This is Part One. The takeaways for this first episode come from Craig Groeschel. Craig is a pastor, podcaster, speaker, and New York Times bestselling author. He’s also the global champion for the Global...

LTL 140: Consistency Revisited And The Difficulty Of Things Worthwhile

The Leader To Leader Podcast

I know this happens to you at times. You hear something, and then you hear it multiple times and all of a sudden, you recognize that you need to sit up and pay attention! That happened to me recently. It started with a simple reminder: consistency is foundational to our effectiveness. But it didn’t end there – I heard it multiple times in a matter of a couple of days. I knew it was time that we revisited the topic of consistency together. And it wasn’t just consistency. It was connected to the difficulty of things worthwhile. Consistency: Critical Trait For Great Leaders Here’s my fear...

LTL 139: A Controversy Regarding Forgiveness

The Leader To Leader Podcast

Isn’t it awesome when you run into validation for a perspective unexpectedly, especially when it’s from an authority that you respect? As you know, I’m a proponent of not allowing others to control my future due to unforgiveness. Episodes and were dedicated to the issue of resentment and the problems it causes us as leaders when we don’t resolve it. It can sometimes lead to a controversy regarding forgiveness. So I came across a post from someone who I admire greatly in the LinkedIn community. I always read his comments because he strikes me as well-balanced,...

LTL 138: The Value Of Humility And Momentum

The Leader To Leader Podcast

Have you ever blown it? I knew it…you are! I tell people all the time that those who listen to my podcast are perfect – they don’t need me because they don’t struggle with human things! Ha! If only that were true. It’s hard to talk about being humble because media often represents humility as weakness. Regardless of your political leanings or affections, have you ever seen a less humble man than President Trump? Actually, I have. To clarify, the world is littered with arrogant and unapologetic men and women. Humility is strength. It’s the ability to admit when you’re wrong and to...

LTL 137: Move Past Resentment To Take Control Of Your Future

The Leader To Leader Podcast

I’m excited about today’s episode. Last week, in , I talked about why leaders can’t afford the high cost of resentment. Well, today I’m going to show you how to move past resentment to take control of your future. Initially, you might be wondering why this matters. It’s a reasonable question. Furthermore, it would appear that many people have used resentment as a form of motivation. Instead of getting past resentment, it seems that storing it up fueled their success. Surprisingly, this doesn’t work out the way you might think. Imagine that one person who you have always sought...

LTL 136: Why Leaders Can't Afford The High Cost Of Resentment

The Leader To Leader Podcast

It’s usually not my intention to allow the introduction to direct the content for a podcast, but I felt like that needed to happen today. I want to share a couple of stories with you that are examples of why leaders can’t afford the high cost of resentment. And while this might be a little longer than usual, I think it’s important because I want to give you an example of what I’m talking about. After a meeting this week, I wanted to grab a few mins at the gym before heading home. So, I jumped in the truck and headed toward the gym. At the intersection where the gym is located, there...

LTL 135: Four Solid Principles Supporting Team Growth

The Leader To Leader Podcast

In the previous episode, I was able to share some of the experiences that shape who I am. This isn’t Part Two of that discussion. Yet I recognize that I didn’t offer any explanation for how those unique aspects about me impact my approach to leadership. So, today is my opportunity to do that as I talk about four solid principles supporting team growth. You likely already know some of this, especially long-time listeners of the podcast. As a result, you will have to resist the temptation to zone out. Stay engaged, because there is some significance here that I haven’t had an opportunity...

More Episodes

In Episode 122, I told you about Kyler Murray’s long history of winning and I share some ways that you can prevent expectations from producing failure in your life. What I didn’t talk about then, but I want to talk about now, is why winning does not equal success. So often we seem to think that those terms are synonymous. That is, a win equals success. I understand how you could think that; however, that is simply not the case.

Some Possible Criteria

You and I have criteria that we are using constantly to determine whether we are winning or losing. There is infinite criterium but here are some you might be using:

Deal size
Sales volume
Period revenue
Key performance indicators
Net promoter score
Return customer count
Cost per click
Return on investment
Promotion
Customer survey results
Recognition
Reputation
Likes
Friend or connection count
Email list size
Number of 5-star rating/review

Frequently, our view would be positive of those events we judge to be a win and negative of those we view to be a loss. If your criteria for a win is a five-star rating/review, then by your criteria, a three-start rating/review is a loss. Imagine what would be lost if you ignored everything other than a five-star rating/review?

Second Place, First Loser

No team starts out thinking “Wow, you know if we can just finish in second place this year, that would be great!” It’s particularly interesting right now when you look at the money being thrown around to attract the greatest talent. Earlier this year, the richest contract in professional sports history was signed by Mike Trout and the Los Angeles Angels. The amount? $430 million for 12 years. Surprisingly, the top 10 largest contracts signed have all been baseball contracts except for boxer Canelo Alvarez who is trailing only Mike Trout.

You have massive movement in National Basketball Association as the most valuable players in the league make their moves to position themselves for their best chance to win a championship in the 2019/2020 season. Money is flowing like crazy as these players receive contracts worth well more than $100-$200 million. You have Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant teaming up in Brooklyn. Kawhi Leonard and Paul George in LA with the Clippers. Lebron James and Anthony Davis with the Lakers. Now obviously, these aren’t the only talented players and many would argue that they aren’t individually even the best players. And that’s not really the point. Some will argue Lebron James is the best, but even if that is true, it wasn’t enough for the Lakers to even make the playoffs during the 2018/2019 season.

It Takes More Than A Single Superstar

The point is this: as with most things in life, it takes more than a single superstar for a team to experience the heights of potential. If you measure success by championships, then every year, there are thousands of the best athletes in the world who are absolute failures. Even if the Nets, Clippers, and Lakers all have the best season they ever had, only one, or possibly none of them, will win a championship.

So, all I have to do is just surround myself with the best talent? If I do that, then I’m golden, right?! It sounds good in theory until you look at the results. Just head over to TheSportster.com and read about the 15 most disappointing super teams in sports history. It’s appalling! There is no excuse to assemble that much talent and then fall short of the goal. Baseball, basketball, hockey, football, even the Olympics are full of talented individuals, possibly the very best in their sport, that fell short.

I think some of the answers to this dilemma lie in the previous episode where we identified that too much focus on the win can actually produce a loss. Constantly examining the minutiae of your performance under a microscope can be distracting and result in worsening performance.

Focus On Success, Not Winning

Here’s the warning that every leader must heed: even when expectations are reasonably placed, you must know how to keep the attention focused on success, not winning. Success can be achieved with or without the win.

Don’t turn off the podcast! I know you are thinking that this is madness. More participation ribbons for everybody. Or an argument for grading on the curve or the elimination of grades completely. Everyone gets a trophy because you’re all winners in my book. No. That’s not it at all.

You Can’t Win Unless You Know How To Lose

What I’m arguing for is a recognition that the definition of success does not have to be a win. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the famous center for the Los Angeles Lakers, once said: “You can’t win unless you learn how to lose.” The reason why winning does not equal success is that success can occur even in a loss.

I know you still think I’m crazy, but I want you to hear me out. Maybe you’ve heard of Morgan Wootten. He is a former high school basketball coach at deMatha Catholic High School and has the second most wins as a head coach in basketball at any level. Listen to his thoughts:

“It’s often been said that you learn more from losing than you do from winning. I think, if you’re wise, you learn from both. You learn a lot from a loss. You learn what is it that we’re not doing to get to where we want to go. It really gets your attention and it really motivates the work ethic of your team when you’re not doing well.”
Morgan Wootten

Motivate To Learn And Improve

We’re getting closer. It’s not just about winning or losing. It’s about the motivation to learn and improve. I talked a lot about success in Episode 95 and Episode 96. If you define success as John Wooden does, then you know that:

“Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”
John Wooden

But you don’t get a pass here. Coach Wooden went on to say that our tendency is to hope things will turn out the way we want them to but we don’t really do everything that is necessary to turn those hopes and dreams into a reality.

It’s a double-edged sword, isn’t it?! If success is peace of mind because you know you made the effort to do your best to become all that you are capable of becoming, then it means you did everything necessary to create that reality. Unfortunately, I’m not sure that most of us can point at our level of effort and say we did our very best to become the best that we are capable of becoming.

You Don’t Get To Blame Fate

Instead, we would rather blame luck and the circumstances that seem to be out of our control. Coach Wooden’s dad used to tell him don’t whine, don’t complain, and don’t make excuses. Whatever you are doing, do it to the best of your ability. No one can do more than that. And if you will do that, regardless of whether you win, you are going to experience success.

But don’t forget – it’s not luck! I talked about this extensively in Episode 119, so I’m not going to go into it again here. Go listen to that episode if you missed it. Actually, go listen to it again if you already heard it. The lessons are that important!

One of Coach Wooden’s favorite poems addresses the topic of luck. It’s written by former Major League Baseball umpire, George Moriarty and is called “The Road Ahead or the Road Behind.” And here it is for you as we start to draw down this episode:

Sometimes I think the fates must grin as we denounce them and insist,
The only reason we can’t win is the fates themselves have missed.
Yet, there lives on the ancient claim – we win or lose within ourselves,
The shining trophies on our shelves can never win tomorrow’s game.

So you and I know deeper down there is a chance to win the crown,
But when we fail to give our best, we simply haven’t met the test
Of giving all and saving none until the game is really won.
Showing what is meant by grit, of fighting on when others quit,
Of playing through not letting up, it’s bearing down that wins the cup.

Of taking it and taking more until we gain the winning score,
Dreaming there’s a goal ahead, of hoping when our dreams are dead,
Of praying when our hopes have fled. Yet, losing, not afraid to fall,
If bravely we have given all, for who can ask more of a man
Than giving all, it seems to me, is not so far from – Victory.

And so the fates are seldom wrong, no matter how they twist and wind,
It’s you and I who make our fates, we open up or close the gates,
On the Road Ahead or the Road Behind.
George Moriarty

Bring Your Best

No excuses. Yesterday’s trophies and successes are not sufficient for today’s challenges. Each day holds the opportunity for you to bring your best effort. Don’t open yourself up for the possibility of regret. Give it your all even if you don’t think anybody will see it or care – you will. If you are willing to do what others won’t then you will have a life that others can’t.

And it won’t always be easy. It’s difficult to give your best day after day. And I feel you – you might think that where you’re at is a dead end. Nothing of value here and winning isn’t an option. You might even feel like you’ve lost the ability to hope.

So lean on me for a moment as I remind you that all hope is not lost. You make yourself a candidate for positive change when you decide that whatever you are doing today, you will bring your best. But luck doesn’t control your future, you do. So give it your all and count it a success!