Thursday's Leadership Insight: The Challenge of Success.

Two of the most highly anticipated and publicized professional sports events will occur in April. Neither of the events is a competition. They are a celebration of Success and wishful hope for fans. All without a score point or a controversy over a referee's call. On April 15, prime time, The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) Draft Event occurred in New York. Caitlyn? Clark of Iowa, as expected, was the number one choice of the Indiana Fever. The National Football (NFL)Draft Event will occur in Detroit today. The number one choice will probably be QB Caleb Williams of USC to The Chicago Bears. Both events are prime-time celebrations of the talents and demonstrated skills of top Women's Basketball and Men's Football. These events are full of human drama and fans' hope for a better season. These athletes are often reported to be at the pinnacle of their Success. This is a misnomer. They have certainly achieved great things, gaining fame and glory. The reality is that these very gifted athletes now need to start again and grow to fully use their natural skills, insights, and abilities daily to succeed at the next level. They also get a bright, unforgiving spotlight on their every on and off-the-field or court move. They will be criticized by those who can't play the game at any level. They have succeeded through intentional, dedicated hard work, learning, excellent coaching, and mentoring. They must now be most attuned to a need to improve their game in many areas. As is often said of Success, what got you to Success, like being a first-round draft choice, will not earn you all pro, championships, or the Hall of Fame. Only 14% of #1-choice players in the NFL have made the Hall of Fame, and only 40% of first-round choices have been inducted. Many make those "worst 1st draft choice ever" lists. The same is true of the teams who draft these special athletes. Rarely do we see a back-to-back champion in any sport. The Kansas City Chiefs are the first in the NFL in twenty years.UConn was the first in Men's basketball since Florida in 2006 & 2007. The challenge for these elite athletes and the teams /organizations that draft them is how leadership chooses to recognize and address the challenge of Success to develop sustainable long-term Success. An elite athlete has to develop self-leadership and a tremendous work ethic and hopefully avoid injury to fully develop their skills and potential. A sports team leader and organization must address the challenge of Success to achieve and maintain sustainable Success. It takes intentional hard work, dedication, and teamwork to win championships. Succes will lead to great joy and celebration. The challenge of success for a top athlete or team is to avoid staying too long in celebration or feeling they have arrived. The challenge is that Success requires intentional hard work, dedication, and teamwork after the celebration. Elite athletes and their organizations must be wary of staying content and satisfied where they are too long. Intentional effort, hard work, and dedication are required to be successful. This is like a failure, not an event. It is a process, and staying satisfied leads to drifting, which leads to decline.

The challenge of success is true for any successful leader and organization in any sector. The especially pernicious challenge of Success is that when we are celebrating, drift can easily occur. Paradoxically, a leader's and organization's failure causes pain that may drive correction. Celebrating and self-congratulatory, maybe entitled feelings can drift quietly to a decline, failure, irrelevance, or even disappearance. Consider the stories of ?Kodak, Blackberry, Kmart, Sears, Borders, Circuit City, Saturn, and Oldsmobile. Remember when the Bears were the Monsters the Midway? It hurts to even type that. A recent launch event for John Maxwell's newest book, High Road Leadership, featured many notable speakers discussing leadership and the challenge of Success in their own leadership practice. John Maxwell noted that this drift is a very human tendency. Maxwell says all leaders and organizations can choose to be "Hippos "wallowing in the comfort of the mud or "Eagles" who soar against the wind to new heights.

This Thursday's leadership insight examines the challenge of addressing success for leaders and organizations. There are five reasons for the drift from success and six strategies leaders and organizations can implement to maintain sustainable excellence.

Five reasons why successful leaders and organizations fail:

1. Complacency and lack of innovation

This is referred to as the TTWWADI

Syndrome or the "That's The Way We Always Did It. Syndrome: " These leaders know what they know and are, at the moment, very good at it. Why change? This group forgets what John Maxwell often says: "Change is inevitable. Growth is optional." ?After achieving success, leaders and organizations can become complacent, failing to adapt to changing market conditions, technological advancements, or customer needs. This complacency leads to stagnation and eventual decline.

2. Overconfidence and hubris

?Successful leaders and organizations may develop an inflated sense of confidence, leading them to make poor decisions, ignore warning signs, or dismiss potential threats. Patrick Lencioni describes this leader in The Motive as a rewards-based leader. This leader and the organization may see their Success as a reward to hold on to, not a goal to move forward on.

3. Failure to develop and retain talent The late Warren Bennis said, "Growing other leaders from the ranks isn't just the leader's duty; it's an obligation." Successful organizations often struggle to develop and retain top talent, especially after success. This can lead to a brain drain, loss of institutional knowledge, and a lack of diverse new perspectives and innovation.

"Failing organizations are usually over-managed and under-led." –

?Warren Bennis

4. Inability to manage growth and complexity.

As organizations grow and become more complex, leaders may struggle to maintain effective communication, decision-making processes, and organizational alignment. This can lead to inefficiencies, silos, and a loss of agility.

"We cannot become what we need by remaining what we are."

John C. Maxwell.

5. Failure to adapt to changing market conditions.

Markets, customer preferences, and competitive landscapes are constantly evolving. Successful leaders and organizations that fail to anticipate and adapt to these changes can quickly become irrelevant or obsolete. Technicians approached Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, to add music to iPhones. He initially rejected the idea until he was convinced that adding music to iTunes would align with the company's mission to upset the status quo and expand the iPhone market. However, the move meant dropping the iPod.The result was a rapid expansion of the iPhone market share. Mike Lazardis of leading rival Blackberry saw no need for music and demanded full keyboards. Blackberry refused to innovate, was officially defunct in 2022, and is no longer available.

Leaders and their organizations can apply these six practices and strategies for long-term sustainable growth and success:

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"It begins with belief. Believing in what was created, helping others, and supporting them to do their jobs."

Natalie Simkovic

HR Manager Thermosystems

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?1. Stay connected.

A leader who stays and wants to build and maintain long-term sustainable Success must be connected. They must be connected to those they serve as followers and customers. This leader is connected to their why to lead and the vision to move forward. This leader is connected to support systems for themselves and the organization to foster continual growth. They understand and value feedback and coaches or mentors who remind them that they must improve daily. This leader striving to build and maintain long-term growth must be connected to their humanness. John Maxwell writes in High Road Leadership that they know they can be a Hippo or an Eagle? and need to grow and learn intentionally. This leader is connected to the reality that the success of an event, although a cause for celebration, is only part of the journey . Winston Churchill wrote, "Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that count."Connection to one's leadership Why is it critical to the success of any organization? In a recent conversation with Natalie Simkovic, a fellow Maxwell Certified team member and HR Manager of Thermosystems, a suburban Chicago HVAC corporation that has been expanding and has very high retention rates of employees and customers, she noted the importance of belief. Natalie explained the connection of purpose as a belief: "It begins with belief. Believing in what was created, helping others, and supporting them to do their jobs."

?2. Learn, Unlearn, relearn, and act to continuously innovate and adapt.

Successful leaders and organizations must be humble to learn, continuously innovate, and adapt to changing market conditions, customer needs, and technological advancements. This requires a culture of humility, curiosity, and psychological safety that allows experimentation, learning, and agility. In Chasing Failure, Ryan Leak refers to this as being failure-friendly, as all leadership is risky. Leaders can take risks and learn to grow or risk becoming irrelevant. In a recent Live 2Lead Leadership Learning Experience presentation, Leak used the example of many's trepidation with artificial intelligence(AI). He reports that many people tell him they don't want to mess with AI. He responds, "If you don't mess with AI, AI will mess with you."

The approach leads to continuous learning and looking to grow. A speaker at the Maxwell ?High Road Leadership book launch, Will Guidara, the author of Unreasonable Hospitality, shares an example as general manager at the prestigious Eleven Madison Park Restaurant. He was helping out by bussing table when a customer and family reported that they thoroughly enjoyed his restaurant and wished they could have had a New York Hot Dog but were leaving town. Guidera raced to a hot dog stand and got the families hot dogs to complete their trip. Guidara took this act to the next level as training for his team based on Success. He stated that NFL teams often spend hours reviewing tapes of failures. Guidara wanted to study and learn from successful events as well. He writes his goal was unreasonable hospitality. This is all about?providing your customers with a unique, tailor-made service that makes them feel cared for and like real VIPs. It's not just about meeting expectations; it's about exceeding them".This philosophy led the Eleven Madison Park Resurant to be #1 of the fifty best restaurants in the world in 2017.

Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality." - Warren Bennis.

3. Talent development and succession planning ?At the Maxwell High Road Leadership book launch, Rev. Craig Groeschel shared that his primary job was to empower others by delegating authority to complete projects, allowing him to mentor and coach them as new rising leaders. Investing in talent development, mentorship programs, and succession planning ensures a pipeline of skilled and motivated leaders and employees. This helps organizations retain institutional knowledge and fresh perspectives. Organizations are always looking for new talent to enrich their organizations when, especially in sports, high achievers become free agents or college sports enter the transfer portal.

4. Effective communication and vision alignment Clear and consistent communication and alignment around shared goals and values are crucial for maintaining focus, efficiency, and collaboration as organizations grow and become more complex. The late leadership expert Peter Drucker noted, "Leadership is lifting a person's vision to high sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations." - Peter Drucker. The organization that builds sustainable long-term success understands that clear, consistent, repetitive communication on vision, values, and purpose creates a trail for all to follow. Sports Agent and public speaker Molly Fletcher, speaking at the Maxwell High Road Leadership Book Launch Event, noted that clear communication and understanding of value and vision created a "Dynamic Drive "for a leader and organization to create sustainable long-term Success. Dynamic drive bonded people and held all accountable for the organization's vision and intentional continuous improvement.

"People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision." -

John C. Maxwell.

?5. Serve others first, exceeding expectations. Successful organizations prioritize understanding and meeting the evolving needs of their customers. Southwest Airlines and Starbucks constantly evolve to meet the needs of travelers and coffee consumers. They also know who their customers are: fans in seats, watching on their devices, maybe watching numerous games at once or on a device by their seat. Even the various groups attending the WNBA and NFL draft events are treated as part of an experience on prime-time television. This involves gathering customer feedback, analyzing data, and continuously improving, seeking ways to improve products, services, and experiences. Will Guidera noted that the sustained growth of his restaurant's success was not just about serving great food in an excellent setting but also about creating a great experience designed to serve the customer beyond expectations.

6. Strategic partnerships and collaborations that are timely and timeless:" Forming strategic partnerships and collaborations can provide access to new markets, technologies, and expertise, enabling organizations to stay competitive and explore new growth opportunities. The NFL is accelerating the expansion of American football into the London and Munich Markets with four games in 2024 and Brazil in 2025. In 2025, a game will be played in Spain.

When applied by leaders and organizations, these six practices and strategies will create connection learning and a unified intentional strategy, adapting to changing conditions and fostering a continuous improvement culture. As Molly Fletcher noted, this organization will celebrate and commemorate successes and learn, unlearn, and relearn to create a "Dynamic Drive." The leader's choice of applying these practices has shown that success is not an event but a long-term sustainable success journey.

The Leadership Questions for you then are

1. Do you, in your leadership practice, notice any drift?

2. Are you a hippo or an eagle in your leadership practice?

3. Are you willing to choose to use the five strategies to build and maintain sustainable success?

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