• Thomas Edison is said to have failed in his attempts to invent the light bulb 1,000 times. When a reporter asked how it felt to fail 1,000 times he observed, “I did not fail 1,000 times, the light bulb was an invention that required 1,000 steps to succeed”.
• Henry Ford failed 5 times before succeeding with the automobile assembly line.
• Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. He said, “I have failed many times, that is why I succeed”.

The fact that realizing success requires persistence is how the universe filters out those who deserve success from those who do not. Refusal to accept defeat is the evidence of “Belief” and the energy of belief (or faith) is an immutable force that yields tangible results.  It is a law of the universe no different than the law of gravity.  You can’t see it, but the evidence of its existence is incontrovertible.

One of the pieces of fatherly wisdom that I have shared with my daughter many times is the following quote which I coined:

“Nothing worth doing is easy, and nothing easy is worth doing”.

Great leaders do not accept failure as an option. Obstacles are perceived as opportunities, not ends. Persistence, hand in hand with flexibility and good humor, enable the creative and resourceful leader to draw the best out of his or her followers and inspire confidence in the inevitability of success and profitability for all involved.

Our followers are very much a reflection of ourselves emotionally and in how they handle stress and challenge. If a leader cannot see the humor in the day to day struggles and meet these with a light heart and buoyant spirit, the spirit of the entire office, team or endeavor may become deflated, somber, counterproductive. Followers look to the leader to get a sense of promise. A leader who meets challenges with a sense of good humor in effect sends the message to the followers that “this is no big deal, we can get through this and everything will be alright”.

I once counseled a business owner who had a Chief Operations Officer that was a “fire starter”.  He was only happy when the entire office was in an uproar.  My advice to the Owner: “your COO needs to be more of a shepherd and less of a band leader”. “What do you mean?” he asked. “A band leader strives to create a tremendous amount of noise.  Sometimes the noise is in harmony, sometimes not, but living day in and day out with that much constant noise will eventually wear a person out. They will shut down or shut it out, and then, at best, they becomes disenfranchised, the work becomes just a 9-5 job to them and commitment suffers.  A shepherd, on the other hand, coaxes the flock, makes the flock feel safe and protected and eventually, the flock will follow the shepherd with complete trust and confidence that their destination will be a happy place for all.”

There is a saying in the sales profession: “Assume the close”. This means that if you act as though the buyer is definitely going to buy and take steps in that direction, (such as beginning to fill out paperwork or asking the buyer “did you want that in red or in blue?”) the buyer will likely follow along and before they know it, they have made the decision to purchase, because not purchasing was never an option.

This is similar to a leader displaying good humor about bad turns of events. Followers will get the message that failure, despite whatever is happening, is not a consideration, that success is simply a matter of applying the correct effort, attitude, business plan modifications or whatever the case may be … but success will come. With this mindset, our followers will not falter, stumble or fade in their resolve and support of our leadership.  They will follow us to that happy place, supporting our Princely endeavors along the way.

So … #12: Flexibility:

A leader cannot be rigid and inflexible. We live in the most dynamic and diverse (not to mention challenging) time in history. The face of business, information, technology and the economy change very quickly and it is nearly impossible to predict and control what happens from day to day.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that “Control is an illusion”. People become very rigid in their plans and expectations and when “control” slips through their fingers, they become angry, frustrated, irrational, even vengeful. The reality is that there is very little in our lives or the circumstances of our daily activities that we actually control.  In law this is called “Force Majeure”, which loosely means things which no one can control … things like weather, labor shortages, the affairs of sovereign nations which may result in war, affecting supply chains or raw materials costs, etc.  Indeed, control is an illusion that can easily set a Leader up to fail if flexibility is lacking.

Followers cannot be demeaned or criticized for circumstances they may have no control over, nor can a good leader be arbitrarily punitive. A good leader must understand that the path to the goal rarely, if ever, follows the map outlined at the outset of a venture. Therefore, being flexible and creative in response to changing circumstances and demands is an absolute necessity if we expect our followers to continue to grow in their faith and trust in our leadership. Rigidity and lack of flexibility will only generate frustration and defeatism in the ranks of our followers.

One of my favorite quotes goes as follows: “Early in life, we are concerned with our own success … but once we become true leaders we are concerned with the success of others”.

The truism here is that concern for only our own success, welfare and pocketbook by its nature alienates us from those whom we want to follow us. Regardless of education, people can easily sense a “one-way” relationship. By alienating potential followers, what we are left with is just our own limited resources of time, expertise, effort and funding. In essence, our “footprint” on the earth is small. Sadly, a great many people are fine with this and greedily hoard all rewards of success for themselves, thereby doing little or nothing to improve the world around them. However, by encouraging cooperative effort, by empowering our followers to be and do their best, and by sharing the rewards of success generously with them … in other words, becoming concerned with their success ahead of our own … what happens is that the cooperative efforts of the whole become greater than the sum of the parts. We generate an army of doers, thinkers, executers and leaders in their own right whose collective footprint on the earth becomes massive. This is the only way that a leader of vision can see their vision yield results both spectacular and earth-changing.

Think: Nelson Mandela, Lech Walesa, Martin Luther King Jr.

Without leading through a spirit of cooperation, the impact of these men would have past on with end of their life or the sunset of their position of power and/or influence. Instead, the movements of such leaders has changed the world scene perhaps forever, with great masses of people benefitting from the collective efforts.  If you want to be a Prince or Princess … you need to see beyond your own gratification.

We continue our examination of Napoleon Hill’s landmark work by discussing at length this essential facet of great leadership:

Like the first five characteristics of a great leader (see prior Blogs) this item inspires confidence and faith in one’s followers. Personality character details like #’s 6, 7 & 8 engender loyalty and love from one’s followers, but love lacking confidence can only create a limited momentum to one’s purpose. Without displaying a mastery of the details (a thorough understanding) of every aspect of the goal set forth by a great leader, we can never rightly expect our followers to follow blindly (i.e.: accepting that our direction will succeed with confidence even when they do not fully comprehend the entire plan themselves). Therefore, early in a leadership role, it behooves a great leader to display mastery over the execution of details. Explaining the why and how of plan elements and putting them into context for our followers and then demonstrating the exact result that we expect by performing the task ourselves as an example to be followed.

As an example:  At a resort project that I am developing for my client and his investors, my role is that of an administrator and business plan manager. However, I also seek to be a facilitator. An administrator may point to something and tell a group to go do it. A facilitator will also step in to fill missing roles and bridge gaps to ensure that the team members have the tools and resources they need to pull all of the pieces together efficiently. I have also sought to empathize with my team by showing them that I understand the intricacies of their individual jobs. Therefore, I have performed plumbing, carpentry, electrical, lock-smith, painting and labor work side by side with my team, as well as design, engineering, architectural, code compliance & municipal liaison and negotiations efforts. All, of course, to a limited degree and atop of the main reason for my being here, which is to manage the budget, cash-flow, schedule, product quality and delivery. However, by demonstrating to the team that I know each and every one of their jobs, my goal has been two-fold. One, to let them know that I understand each of their individual challenges, but two, to ensure they are aware they cannot fool me in any way. That I can see everything in its appropriate context and will hold each of them accountable for what I know they are capable of.  And, of course, I only do these things enough to establish the proper atmosphere of personal responsibility and high expectations, since painting or carpentry is obviously not the highest and best use of my time.

The point is that mastering the details of one’s leadership position lends truth to an expression I have used on many occasions: “People will live up to, or down to, your expectations of them.”  If you expect a lot from your followers in full knowledge of their capabilities, then that is what you will get. If you expect little from them, perhaps because you yourself do not have mastery over the details, then little is what you will get (and what you will deserve).

Leaders who rule by fear and anxiety will never draw out the best that their followers have to give. Sympathy and understanding breed loyalty and trust. It is only through loyalty that employees, vendors, consultants and other followers wholeheartedly accept your (the Leader’s) interests, goals and vision as their own. Only when the followers take the leader’s vision into their hearts can they execute on the vision at greater than the anticipated result. Through sympathy and understanding, the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. Something magical happens. The combined efforts of your followers will yield a result that far exceeds what logic and accounting say it should. The return on investment for your sympathy and understanding is that your followers want you to succeed because they truly love you and will sacrifice their own interests for you.

I have had this experience as a follower with several clients for whom I would take a bullet. I also experience this daily in the respect and admiration of the hundreds of men and women who follow me on a daily basis through the Hurculean efforts they expend to help me achieve my client’s goals.

One note: There are some people who, no matter how much you invest into them in sympathy and understanding, will never reciprocate with loyalty. You will know them when you meet them. These people are leaches, takers, selfish and disloyal. They may never change. You must immediately and decisively cut these people out of your lives without mercy or hesitation. You cannot and must not sacrifice your own future to spare the feelings of people who will never appreciate it.  You also owe it to your loyal followers to protect them from the rotten apples that would spoil the bushel.