Don't be an idiot, don't be a wimp

Anybody who has run a race of any distance are likely to have heard the adage: Don’t be an idiot, Don’t be a wimp.? This folksy phrase provides runners a mildly threatening reminder of the risks in poor pacing during an event. The application of this lesson extends far beyond running and into the business world, especially for those who are taking on new roles or expanding their responsibilities into unfamiliar areas.

New runners often start races at a pace faster than they can maintain through the entire race. They go out fast and try to hold on… a strategy that seldom works.? One of my favorite things to see during the local 5k turkey trot is when all the neighborhood kids jump out to a massive early lead, only to be walking a half mile into the race. They went out hard and tried to hold on to that unrealistic pace and have the next two and a half miles to think about their flawed strategies.? Nobody can fault a child for this approach, after all, they have a lot to learn about everything, and distance running is probably not their top priority.

Some of these kids will in fact grow up to become competitive runners.? By this time, they would have learned that most marathon world records are negative splits, which is to say they are run faster in the back half of the race than the front half. And while most of us don’t aspire to be world class marathoners, the same fundamental philosophy prevails with recreational runners.? Start a race slowly and ease up to your race pace.? There are a few reasons that the go out fast and try to hold on approach fails in almost every application. The most popular theory is called the central governor theory.

The central governor theory is based around the premise that the brain will override your physical ability to run and “shut the body down” before you’re able to do serious or permanent damage to yourself. – Trail Runner Nation

Paraphrasing the theory would sound something like this. While you probably can’t win your race in the early stages, you surely can do things to lose it when strategy and execution don’t align.? So now you know why it is smart to start a race a little slower than you hope to finish the race.

The second half of this philosophy is “Don’t be a wimp”.

Marathons are hard, there is no way around this.? No matter the class of runner you are, the back half of the race will be challenging.? You may have blisters, dehydration, sore knees and chafing in places we don’t discuss in the company of others. It will hurt. But these situations are almost never life threatening. The only thing to do is to suck it up and move forward.? Take whatever you’ve learned in the first half of the race related to pacing, that day’s nutrition and course conditions to inform your back-half strategy.? Complaining to your fellow runners, stalling at aid stations, and slowing to a snail’s pace in the hopes that the course marshals pull you due to missed cutoff times will inevitably lead to failure. And you will have only yourself to blame.? Harsh, yes but that doesn’t make it less true.?

Seasoned runners create a race plan in advance of race day, control their tendency to jump out too fast in the first half of the race and then show grit when things inevitably get hard.?

How is this similar to starting a new role or project??

At the outset of a project, proactive managers often want to make sweeping changes immediately.? They want to “put their stamp” on the organization and show they aren’t afraid of making and carrying out decisions.? They are “doers” and doers want to do!? Managers at greatest risk of this misstep are those who are earlier in their leadership journey and don’t have the right mentors to guide them differently. These are the children going out too fast in the 5k.? The risk is that that they don’t know enough yet to make good decisions for the long-term good of the company.? At best, they may alienate strong performers and appear to be disinterested in the opinions of successful leaders who have institutional knowledge.? Such team members may not feel compelled to partner with a closed-minded exec who doesn’t respect nor want to hear opinions of others.

Worse yet, these trigger-happy doers may kill programs or downsize teams that have second order impacts not immediately visible on accounting statements. In short, it pays to be patient, learn what you don’t know and avoid the pitfall of being an over-eager idiot.

How do you avoid the temptation of being an idiot, fight the weakness of being a wimp and make sure your new team knows you actually have a system that you’re working through?? There are three convenient steps: 1. Communicate your process, 2. Listen and Absorb info and 3. Take Action.

Communicate your process:

It is important to clearly and publicly lay out your process to learn about the organization, assess talent, understand processes, and evaluate the product.? Commit to the team that after a certain and defined amount of time, you will share your learnings with them.? Failure to publicly commit to a schedule may make the team feel like you are needlessly conducting internal audits without an end in sight.? That would create discomfort and could lead to team members polishing off their resumes.?

Listen and Absorb:

Internally, I like to hold a number of informal conversations that could be 1:1s or round tables where team members share their wins and challenges.? If they have potential solutions, even better! I do this across teams, as skip levels and on a variety of topics.? Some meetings have agendas to help direct the conversations and others are very open to cover any topics that the team may deem important.

Externally, I connect with customers and partners.? Usually a cross section of the fastest growing customers, those who have stagnated and even those who have churned over the past years.? Partners can be helpful to lay out our role and opportunities in the ecosystem

During this phase, it is important to do periodic check-ins with team members to see if any conversations/steps are being missed to properly paint the most accurate picture for you.?

Finally, I recruit the feedback from my personal board of directors.? Those are my most trusted advisors. While respecting rules around sensitive and/or confidential information, we discuss some of the themes I may be hearing from both internal and external conversations. ?

Take Action:

Once you have identified the big rocks and have a good understanding of the organization, when you have uncovered the true talent in the group, have a degree of comfort that you know the real drivers of the business and recognize contributing factors of support organizations, it is time to take action!? The hard part, for many leaders is that by this point, they have built relationships with team members. A weeks or months have passed while you learn the organization’s nuances and that requires time spent with team members who fit into your plans for the future.? This is where your backbone comes in handy. You have done the proper evaluations and as a result, you have earned the right to make the hard calls.? Such calls may not be popular with all members of the team, but they are necessary to drive the business forward.? Grabbing a page out of John Stuart Mill’s philosophy on utilitarianism, you are not there to make everybody happy but rather to drive the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. It is unavoidable that some people will be disappointed, but such is life. If you try to make everybody happy, you will be an ineffective and weak leader who is incapable of driving change, likely accepting mediocrity across your team.? Top talent will leave as they become frustrated that you don’t recognize the baggage that comes with.? You’ll be left with C-players, a broken set of systems and an unsuccessful business.? Avoid this terrible fate – don’t be a wimp, execute the plan you have worked hard to develop!

When you do clearly communicate a plan to gather information, execute that plan according to your stated timelines and then activate the change you feel is necessary, you have a better chance to win hearts and minds of your team.? While some people may not agree with your ultimate changes, they will be more open minded to hearing a well-thought-out strategy that was informed by key internal and external players.

In leadership, it is impossible to eliminate risk, but there are ways to lessen that risk. Hopefully this article gives you some tools and a mindset that can be leveraged the next time you take on a new challenge.?

Key takeaways:

1.???? When starting a role or project, lay out your process to learn about the organization, talent, processes and product.? Doing this will show your team that you are going to be informed about the needs of the organization and will identify a time when you will share your findings.

2.???? Be patient. Assess talent, systems, processes, and product to determine what needs to be done.

3.???? Once you have a good understanding, drive the necessary change.? You’ll never have ALL pertinent information so make the changes when your intel is good enough.

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