I Have Been a Distractor.

I look at areas in my life where I have not performed anywhere near my potential. As a leader, as a colleague, as a husband, and as a father, I have missed opportunities to perform at my best, and if you are being honest with yourself, so have you. 

When we take our eyes off of purpose we leave either potential or performance on the table. Most times we can be focused on the wrong purpose and as a result both potential and performance suffer. 

Remember the son who asked his father how much money he made an hour? It went something like this:

SON: “Daddy, may I ask you a question?”

DAD: “Yeah sure, what is it?”

SON: “Daddy, how much do you make an hour?”

DAD: “That’s none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?”

SON: “I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?”

DAD: “If you must know, I make $100 an hour.”

SON: “Oh!”(With his head down).

SON: “Daddy, may I please borrow $50?”

DAD: “Why do you need $50, that’s a lot of money, and I work hard for it.”      

SON: “I need it to buy something really important.”

DAD: “Fine, here’s the $50 you asked for, now let me get back to work.”

SON: “Oh, thank you daddy!”

Then, reaching in his pocket the son pulled out some crumpled up bills. The dad saw that his boy already had money, and started to get visibly upset. The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his dad smiling. 

DAD: “Why do you want more money if you already have some?”

SON: “Because I didn’t have enough, but now I do ... Daddy, I have $100 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.”

I have been this dad in someways more times than I would like to admit, focused too much on my professional purpose, and not enough on my personal purpose. It’s easy to lose sight of what really matters, and our over all mission in this life. 

“Mission drift” is all too common in the workplace. Many organizations start with a purpose, their reason other than profit for going into business. They then invite people to come along with them as colleagues in pursuit of that purpose. They put processes in place to support their people, to develop them and help them reach their potential. They start turning a profit and then something happens: they take their eyes off of purpose and start focusing on performance. Eventually development starts to suffer and their people begin to segment. They find themselves with less “developers” and more “doers.” Some who were once engaged with the organization start looking for purpose elsewhere, and become “distractors.” Other people in the organization begin to lose sight of purpose and their potential altogether, become completely disengaged, don’t perform, and ultimately become “detractors.”

Refocusing on purpose can be unconventional in a world driven by performance and profitability. Perhaps one of the best examples of this organizationally is portrayed in the movie “Moneyball.” Based on a true story revolving around the 2001 Oakland Athletics, the plot gives us insight on developing a high performing team by not focusing on high performers. In fact, Billy Beane, the Oakland A’s General Manager, loses all of his high performers in free agency and in self-initiated trades. On the surface, his strategy was viewed as insanity by the team’s stakeholders. But Beane was focused on a purpose. He was focused on building a team that would win season after season. He was focused on growth and stability. His strategy — find players who were not performing to their potential — put them in the right position to leverage their strengths, and develop them as a team. Performance would ultimately follow. 

Some teams drive performance without developing potential.

Some teams develop potential without driving performance. 

Impactful teams focus on developing people and driving purpose, resulting in increased potential and performance. 

High performance and high potential are byproducts of doing that well. 

On the surface this diagram may seem like a development tool, but it is not. It is a compass. Individuals and organizations alike can easily shift left or right of their purpose as they start to focus on potential and performance. By consistently checking yourself and moving in the direction of your purpose, you will reach higher levels of performance and unleash potential you did not know existed.

“Distractors” are high potential, low performing, not aligned on purpose. 

“Detractors” are low potential, low performing, not aligned on purpose. 

“Doers” are high performers, limiting their potential, not aligned on purpose.

“Developers” are high potential and high performing because they are aligned and focused on purpose, this is where leadership lives.

Which one of these are you as it relates to the purpose of your organization? 

As an organization which one of these are you as it relates to your people living out their personal purpose?

Leadership worth following is purpose-focused, creating an environment that develops others. The higher your purpose, the higher capacity for potential and performance.

Lead with purpose.

Live purposefully.