One of my
guilty pleasures is America’s Got Talent,
a reality television show. In this show, one former judge regularly talked about
looking for the WOW factor in the acts that are performing – he was looking to be
completely blown away. The WOW factor is simply a distinct appeal that an
individual or an object has on others. For the leader, this translates into an
impressive display of leadership acumen and skill. But how do you find the WOW
factor in your leadership? It’s easy… simply consider three things to make you
appeal to others: practice makes perfect, knowledge is power, and just do it.
Practice Makes Perfect
I love sports
and particularly college football. The excitement of Saturday afternoon in the
fall is something I look forward to. But, according to the NFL, only 3.4% of
all college football players make it to the pro ranks. To be sure, one reason
why these elite few reach the pinnacle of their sport is through practice. According
to Martha Graham, “Practice
means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of
vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection
desired.” While this sounds like the life of a professional athlete,
it is also the life of an everyday leader. Perfection is hard to accomplish but
worthy of our effort. As leaders, we influence others to accomplish things
greater than any of us could achieve individually… we strive toward a common vision.
Practicing leadership may not make us perfect leaders, but it will make us
perfectly prepared for leading.
Knowledge is Power
Knowledge is
historically gained through intentional study or by experience. We have often
attributed knowledge to those who have been around the longest or to those we
consider the smartest. But knowledge is no longer the domain of a privileged few. We
recognize that everyone around us brings knowledge and that all of this knowledge
is valuable in making decisions. But Indian philosopher Krishnamurti thought of
knowledge this way, “To know is to be ignorant. Not to know is the beginning of
wisdom.” As leaders, we too often confuse knowledge with wisdom. While it is
important to consider the thoughts and ideas of our team – their knowledge – it
is more important to be aware of what we don’t know. Leadership is about balancing
emotions with reason to make good decisions. When we focus only on the
information in front of us, we may not be acting as wisely as we can.
Just Do It
Nike made
this phrase a standard part of our vocabulary and I venture to say that as a
leader, you have uttered this phrase at least once when trying to get others to
follow along. However, we too often get caught up in the act of getting others
to “just do it” and often forget to follow our own advice. Philip J. Eby suggests
we put too much thought trying to find the “why” in what are doing. We should instead
stop trying and start doing. In other words, don’t over-think the problem,
allow motivation to occur naturally and see what happens. Leadership
expert John Maxwell puts it this way, “The whole idea of motivation is a trap.
Forget motivation. Just do it. Exercise, lose weight, test your blood sugar, or
whatever. Do it without motivation. And then, guess what? After you start doing
the thing, that's when the motivation comes and makes it easy for you to keep
on doing it.” When you are self-motivated, you become the leader that others
want to follow.
