The Power of Knowing Yourself

Being active in the marketplace, it's important to know about those with whom you interact... their characteristics, goals, passions, purpose, personality +++

But the story below about the racehorse Seabiscuit highlights another important reality... knowing yourself.

In fact, I submit it is VITAL to know yourself extremely well in order to maximize your relational influence and success in the marketplace!

Enjoy the story. And think about it's personal application in your life :-)

(Should you want my professional input to equip you with even greater clarity than you may now have, I invite you to schedule a 1-to-1 conversation at https://calendly.com/brucekirk/get-crystal-clear or https://calendly.com/brucekirk/perfecting-your-promise)

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(story credit, Tara Ross)

November 1, 1938-- the “race of the century” is held at Pimlico Race Course.

The contest between two thoroughbred racing horses—Seabiscuit and War Admiral—gripped the nation in a way that might surprise modern Americans.

The country was in the midst of the Great Depression and horse racing was a welcome shift.? Moreover, this particular race featured a faceoff between the old, Eastern establishment and the newer thoroughbred community in the West.

Would the establishment win? Or would an upstart take the victory?

Both horses were descendants of the great stallion, Man o’ War, but the similarities ended there.

War Admiral hailed from the East. He’d won the Triple Crown in 1937, and he’d been voted American Horse of the Year. By contrast, Seabiscuit had been acquired by western businessman Charles Howard despite many thinking the horse was too lazy to win consistently.

“He was the horse from the other side of the tracks who became a champion,” his biographer Laura Hillenbrand explains.

Most expected War Admiral to win. He was habitually quick out of the gate, whereas Seabiscuit started slower. The owners agreed to a gateless walk-up, which favored War Admiral. A bell would signal the start of the race. (Secretly, Seabiscuit began training to react to a bell.)

Seabiscuit was at another disadvantage: His normal jockey, Red Pollard, had been injured. Pollard’s advice to his new jockey, George Woolf, was surprising: Seize the lead fast, but then hold Seabiscuit in check. Allow War Admiral to catch up.

“Call it a kind of horse psychology,” Pollard said, according to Hillenbrand. “Once a horse gives Seabiscuit the old look-in-the-eye, he begins to run to parts unknown. He might loaf sometimes when he’s in front and thinks he’s got a race in the bag. But he gets gamer and gamer the tougher it gets.”

On race day, Seabiscuit got off to a much faster start than expected. He took the lead, but then Woolf held him back, just as Pollard had advised.

“It was in this run, side by side, that Seabiscuit proved his superiority over the Admiral,” newspapers reported the next day. “Because when the two horses came out of this gripping drive at the top of the stretch and leveled off for home, Seabiscuit had enough left to carry on, to barrel it down to the wire. War Admiral didn’t.”

War Admiral’s jockey was stunned, later saying that War Admiral had looked Seabiscuit in the eye, “but that other horse refused to quit.”

Seabiscuit set a new track record that day, and he defeated War Admiral by four lengths. The crowd was thunderstruck.

An underdog digging deep and pulling out victory. What a very AMERICAN story!

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