The Pacer that saved the race....
...excerpt from my daily message to the company.
"The truth is that teamwork is at the heart of great achievement" - John C. Maxwell
There were a series of mistakes that I made in the first 64 miles of running that led me to the point of the race where I fell over, curled into a fetal position, and held my ankle and foot. I thought my race was over. The trail was a single track on the side of the mountain, enough space for 1 runner - a goat path cut into the side of the mountain - 45° angle up and down. I was curled and laying on the uphill pulling my feet away from the trail as much as possible to allow runners to pass. Runners would pass and see my bib number and say "I will tell the next aide station (8 miles away) to come get you 695 (bib #)." Every runner that passed said something like that as they ran by me. Repeatedly hearing "Runner down" yelled back and "Don't worry 695, you had a great race" was demoralizing, even though it was 100% unintentional.
As soon as I fell over, the ankle and foot started swelling, blood left my head and I truly felt that this may be it as I then became light headed. For a couple of minutes as I lay there, I was thinking of ways I would tell the Taylors and others that I failed. My mind hit that dark spot of failure.
On the back 50 miles of the Leadville 100 trail run, you are permitted to have a pacer that runs with you. I had asked Paul Zani to pace me for the 25 miles between mile 62.5 and 87.8. Paul is cut from another cloth, an animal when it comes to endurance racing and at the time the only person I knew who had run a 100 mile race before. Asking him to pace me in this section of the race was a no-brainer. A marathon in the middle of the cold Colorado night, on rough mountain trails to help someone else was the perfect assignment for Paul.
When I fell over, Paul immediately seized and assessed the situation, pushing me out of the way of the other runners who were now logged jammed behind us on this very narrow section of the trail. We both were now laying on the upside of the mountain. Paul took over, had me drink an electrolyte mix and eat some gel packets that provided a quick sugar punch. When there was a clearance from runners, Paul stood, grabbed me, picked me up, and looked me in the eye and commanded "That will not happen again...understand! You are fine! We lost 6 minutes laying here and now we have some ground to make up before the next cut-off. Let's go." And we were off running again.
It was exactly what I needed at that exact moment. Someone to shake the darkness off of me. To push me in the moment to realize that I was OK. Paul kept me distracted from the pain for the next 20 miles as we ran through the night racing the clock to beat the cut-off. I know that my race would have ended there on the side of the mountain had it not been for Paul.
Having a team of people was how I was able to finish that epic race - my wife as the crew chief and each of my 3 pacers along the way on the back 50 enabled me to successfully finish.
I was struck this last week watching the teamwork at the hospital evaluation. Brian, Misa, and Jim all working together at all hours of the day to make it happen. For us to win, it will require that level of teamwork and collaboration. A shared mission to help the person in the bed and the person bedside. To bring this innovation to the world and shake the status quo, we need to know and understand there will be moments when we fall to the side of the mountain trail. It is up to all of us to be like Paul in that moment, grab and pick up the other person, and shake the failure out of that person's mind. If we are the person that fell, listen and start running again. You will make it.
With each evaluation and implementation we become better, stronger, and more confident. As we bring on more and more new field sales people, it will be important for all of us to serve them and get them up to speed. Help them overcome what we know they will face. We need to share best practices with each during and after each successful evaluation. What went well, what we need to improve, and what we need to remove after each hospital evaluation. Let's figure out the variables that make this absolutely formulaic in nature.
Joe
This is a series of articles based on the daily letters that I write to my company (slightly modified - company specifics removed). My hope is to share some positive thoughts that gently push the world toward positive thinking and encourage many to achieve their fullest God-given potential.
Global President, Knees - Zimmer Biomet | Combat Veteran
4 年Congratulations Kristine Caveney, MBA - you won the teamwork stick figure!! That's #2 - great job! Jamison Pendlum and Dan Ciarametaro - thank you for the comments, they were great! I see you have both participated in the latest as well, best of luck with those and thank you for participating in pushing positive thoughts into the world!
Operational Excellence | Customer Experience | Continuous Improvement
4 年Having collective loyalty to a goal sure does go a long way in being able to achieve it! Of course, it starts with alignment on goals, being mindful of how individuals and teams can help each other to reach them, and being empowered and encouraged to do so.??(How can this be encouraged through process design?) In my experience leading customer service teams, and guiding overall process improvement, I found quite rewarding results from collaboration between service and sales groups.?Each bring a unique first-hand experience with customers to the table; examining familiar “pain points” of these groups cross-functionally helps deepen understanding of problems impacting the customer experience.?So then what can be done to help smooth the flow??Leveraging those types of collaborations, creating short feedback loops between those groups (and product management, and engineering, etc.), and applying voice of the customer data across as much of the process as you can certainly does!? Thank you for sharing your trail running story.?With the extra self-reflection that the circumstances of this year have enabled, I’m grateful to have had many people by my side to pick me when I have fallen (though not yet on the side of a mountain).?Similarly, I’ve found grace in being able to help as I’ve seen others fall.??
Head of Global Business Operations & Managing Dir. China Operations: Interventional Strategic Leader | P&L | Global Channel Strategy | Med. Device | Sales | Sales Op.'s | General Manager | International Sales
4 年Joe- thanks for sharing. I am also a trail runner and have been in your position too many times to count. Leadville is one of the toughies- congrats to you for even entering, much less finishing that race. Trail running; much like complex selling or any success in the business world is truly a team endeavor.
Regional Vice President
4 年Thanks for sharing Joe. Many times we believe sales or individual sports is accomplished by a single person. However, behind that successful or unsuccessful evaluation or event there still is a team to support us. It’s up to the individual to make sure they engage their team to become better and learn, along with sharing in their success. Great story.
Global President, Knees - Zimmer Biomet | Combat Veteran
4 年Paul Zani