The 1936 Olympic rowing finals featured Germany and Italy in the fastest pole positions; England and the U.S.A., not so much. In fact England and America, in spite of them being second fastest and fastest in the qualifying rounds, found themselves handicapped out in lane 5 and 6 even though they deserved better.
As USA’s Coach Ulbrickson stood shoreline that day he figured his teams chances were not good. His words? “Slim to none.” They were getting screwed by their German hosts and to make matters worse, their leader was sicker than a dog, barely able to sit up straight, much less lead the team into finding their “swing.” Hitler was behind this handicap and nobody would have taken notice of America’s nine if any of ’em had given in, even if only for a second, to register a whine. The boys in the boat, however, were the only nine that mattered and they still believed. Yes, I just finished devouring this delightful story from the book aptly titled, The Boys in the Boat.
The book tells the story of the power of belief, overcoming adversity, becoming ONE, enduring acute pain, and mostly of learning to love your craft and your comrades. You will not regret this read. You will learn. Moving on…
Olympic rowing is 2000 meters in length, roughly a 6 minute pain fest from start to finish. Eight rowers led by one coxswain gotta be exactly in synch to make any kinda magic as they become ONE, themselves, with each other, their boat, and even their playing field – the water. In 1936, nine young men rowed their way into the history books with an epic effort of six, short minutes. At least that’s the way it looks. The real story, of course, is much more complicated. History, someday, may recall one of your moments and suddenly acknowledge your accomplishments too. The magic, however, you’ll tend to remember will be the times it was just you or you and your mates, mastering your craft. You’ll remember the practices, the locker room, the time in the shellhouse or whatever place represents the sanctuary for your craft.
Today, in practice 121, we practiced together. We didn’t win any big contracts, talk through any new ideas, or converge on any earth shattering concepts. We simple put our oars in the collective waters and rowed. Everybody did. Everybody played. We were in calm waters and mostly in the shallow end. Good. We didn’t go too deep but we got after it, nonetheless. We are learning, slowly. Slow learning is the hallmark of leaders. Slow is good. And, going slow is painful when you got an engine capable of going so much faster. As practice ended, Goalie challenged us to go deeper. It was a good challenge. I smiled at her leadership and the response around the room.
Olympic kinda gold is coming to this team. I can see it coming. It will be good. We’ll celebrate along the way ’cause we’re learning that these practices are what we’re gonna remember most, regardless what the world does or doesn’t notice. Today we began to embace the idea of becoming a slow learner. Great lessons, the kind that really matter, are mastered by slow learners. Who knew practicing going slow was gonna be so clutch? Who knew?
The boys in the boat, that’s who…
BUILT TO LEAD 