Street Smarts over Wall Street

A few days ago, I ran the TCS New York Marathon in front of a 26.2 mile wave of positive energy from a sea of 1.2 Million spectators. Apart from being physically tested, emotionally drained and yet uplifted from a cocktail of joy and controlled agony, something potentially wonderful revealed itself to me along the way.

Somewhere after mile 22, there is a place where pain is inevitable, and yet suffering is optional.  I run for several reasons, one of which is its unique ability to simultaneously trigger the ‘big 4’ positive brain chemicals – Endorphins, Dopamine, Serotonin and Oxytocin, a neurotransmitting natural potion of pain masking, goal achieving, pride enhancing and love inducing.  The ‘runners high’ is not a myth, often providing inspiration from perspiration.

I am not alone in shedding tears at the marathon finish line, or after reaching a previously impossible goal along the way to the start line.  This emotional component differentiates running and has many collateral benefits including enabling mindfulness, profound leaning and the development of hard to teach and highly transferable qualities such as patience, self discipline, mental toughness and positive thinking that drives all of the collateral physiological benefits that in turn lead to an ability to do something that, according to the legend, killed the first person to try it back in ancient Greece.

As I was battling ‘the wall’, somewhere around the Bronx/Harlem, I ran past a joyous, cheering group of smiling strangers, wide-eyed, uninhibited, unreserved, waving home made signs, only transmitting positive thoughts. A random thought occurred to me.     

How great (ridiculously awesome) it made me feel, just simply being encouraged the right way at the right time.  My wide eyed friends helped me reach deep inside and surge one more time to get to the finish line….motivation 101+.  Would it not be great if I could replicate that simple yet magic moment into a professional setting?  The thought would follow me for the remainder of the race.  

As a leader I feel passionately that it is our duty to leave the world better than we found it, ideally by developing and leveraging the full potential of the people in our charge.   Maybe we should give more and hold back less?  

And then it occurred to me.  Why can’t we coach like the kids in Harlem? Why do we miss the most valuable trait of any successful leader to aspiring leaders?  Does anyone admire a CEO that owes her or his success to excellent technical knowledge of macroeconomics or the derivation of the internal rate of return from discounted cash flow analysis?  

The questions floating around my runners’ high monkey brain were galloping to “how can I coach this illusive, yet attainable leadership differentiator?”.  What do legendary leaders like Richard Branson and Warren Buffet look for when they are hiring? and how could we coach this to someone early enough in their career to more efficiently turn talent and potential into achievement and impact? 

The answer hit me like the wall does to an ill-prepared marathon runner - a simple but dirty 4-letter word: Grit, with a little passion on the side.  

Think about all of the TED talks and pep talks and literature you have consumed.  Grit is a common theme.  And yet, just like Spiderman and Superman’s alter egos, a ‘superhero’ trait that is hidden in plain sight, often by very humble people, and yet obvious after you see it.   

So why not call it out and coach it sooner?  Quick quiz: The connection between Margaret Thatcher, Steve Jobs, Michael Jordan, Ghandi, Abraham Lincoln and Dr Martin Luther King? Maybe best summarized by another great leader, Nelson Mandella: “Judge me not by my successes, but on how many times I get up after I fall”.   

True Grit = Courage, Conscientiousness, Perseverance, Resilience, Passion.    In my case running beat blubber and lethargy just like water beats rock, if it is relentless for long enough. 

Something that inspirational leaders with Grit ‘get’, just as 53,000 runners at a marathon start line get, is that passion from purpose is an infinitely more sustainable driver than fear of failure.  So, just how could we simulate or coach this effectively?   

My answer: Go run a marathon – whether you are a millennial mover and shaker, mid career dreamer or late career re-booter.  The marathon is a seemingly impossible challenge, and yet it is an Everest that everyone can climb, that needs no passport and can be seen from the couch/office cube.  

FYI - my “yeah, right” eyebrows were as high as yours are probably right now, 9 years ago, on the couch, unable to run more than 100 yards without throwing up, stuck in a career cul-de-sac, a victim not a perpetrator of life.   

My experience is that the development of the grey “muscle” between the ears is significantly more important than muscle strength, or body fat or VO2 Max capacity.   A Navy Seal mantra during basic training, is that we only deliver 40% of what we are capable of, which has nothing to do with anything south of the brainstem.

There really is something uplifting about setting a seemingly impossible goal. Breaking it down into manageable chunks, making a plan: a mile run-walk, then run then 2, then 3. Three months later you are running 10K, then 15K, then 20K per week,  then 20K all in one go. There is no cheating the Marathon, you only cheat yourself, she will find out at the start line and come down on you like a ton of bricks, sometime after 18 miles. 

We all intuitively know that it is not the ‘one off’ big gestures that deliver your dreams, it is the repetitive positive things that you do that become life changing habits.  It is the ability to manage the inevitable setback, in a marathon quest it is often a virus or a pulled muscle in training.  No better way of appreciating this than marathon training, where setbacks are merely life lessons, not life sentences.

This is certainly tested on dark rainy mornings with 5 miles to get done before work, scheduling runs around life and life around running.  Planning nutrition and hydration strategy, maybe even fundraising to get into a big city marathon. 

By the way, you will also have the sharpest mind and the best energy in the room at a 7 a.m. meeting after you already defeated 10K before breakfast. Let alone the personal confidence that comes from your fist marathon finisher’s medal.   

How many people in your life have profoundly inspired you by mere words alone?   Not many, if any, I guess.  And yet, how many without saying a word?  Did Roger Bannister and Eliud Kipchoge talk or do?  I rest my case.

I wish that I had this advice and experience 25 years ago, the inspiration and satisfaction to set these kind of goals, the self confidence and discipline to relentlessly execute on your commitments especially when no one is looking, translates to every facet of your life. 

I now care less about criticism from people from whom I would not seek advice in the first place, and focus more on a winning mind-set…#setmyownboldgoals #beatyesterday.    If only the younger me was able to focus on the mile I am running now, and not worry about the 3 mile hill on 5th avenue, 23 miles away.   

Try setting such a challenge to a mentee, or yourself; a seemingly impossible physical goal that can only be achieved with passion and grit. A goal that gives much more then it takes.  How impactful might this be?  Which book can you get that from? Go for a run one day, you never know what the journey may teach you, nor where the path might lead.