Elite individuals are not mass produced via some simplistic formula. Elite teams cannot be mass produced. Elite leaders emerge. The truth is that most of them emerge under pressure and most often after they’re forced nto the deep end through the circumstances of life. BTL practice is not real life anymore than hitting balls on the range is real golf. Virtuous swing coaches do their very best to simulate tournament pressure while teaching their player core concepts like posture, position, and tempo. BTL practice is designed to put the participants under pressure all while teaching the core precepts we call the 12 8 4 powered by 2 framework. Our aim is to provide a practice environment with enough pressure to simulate something real. Over time and through the virtuous handling of adversity, elite leaders emerge.
Lead anything and you ought to find yourself living in the tension between providing a healthy practice for the weak, weary, average, and the few that could become your elite. Lead anything and you’re gonna come to embrace this tension. The problem is we’ve tended to cheat toward the weak in our society. We are overly focused on making elite kinda rewards accessible to the average. We want everyone to feel good. Just look at how we grade high school students today vs. when I graduated back in 1977. Salina Central High’s Valedictorian was my good friend Hugh Simpson. His g.p.a.? Something less than 4.0. You see Hughie registered one B, the rest were A’s. When Taylor graduated from Liberty High School back in 2014, wanna guess what his Val’s g.p.a. was? I don’t know either but after they read the 60 some people with over a 4.0, I didn’t much care.
Lead anything and you ought to find yourself living in the tension of telling your team the truth – they cannot all be A players. They are not all the best of the best. You and I aren’t either. Raise the bar on what you expect from your B players. Push the mediocre middle to not be satisfied with a C. Your A’s will emerge. And but a few of your A’s have the internal will to become elite. Your job if you’re a BTL builder is to provide the environment in which a few elite leaders emerge. You, most likely, are too soft, and too impatient.
When I began as a BTL builder I was a solid C student with an elite students desire and will to pain. Through lots of failed engagements, missteps, writing, course correcting, and risk taking I progressed to a steady B performer after 5 years or so. The last few years I’ve tasted more F’s. The last few years I’ve fallen flat on my face as I attempted to push too many C’s as if they were A’s. I’ve pushed more people in practice into their panic zone. I’m learning the edge on my way to becoming an elite builder of elite leaders. You see, if my aim were money I would focus on the masses and develop a dumbed down version where everybody feels elite even though next to none are even real A’s. My aim is to become an elite builder of elite leaders. This is why I take the time to take on fewer clients than I could. You see, an average day for me involves 3 hours of studying. I am not yet elite, my friend. Over time, through adversity, and the learning that comes when I push myself to the point of failure, I will be. I’ve seen some A’s emerging from our work together. I see a few with elite written in their core. I’ve got to keep getting better if I’ve any hope of seeing a few elite emerge from this work and in my lifetime. The only reason I keep reaching is because this work lights me up even when it turns so many off. The few I’ve seen turned on, keep me lit. The same will be true for you. Keep reaching. Model the way. Embrace the pain and suffering. Embody truth in love.
Someday. Not yet.
What is the aim of your opus, friend? What kinda time you dedicating to getting better? What are your study habits if you’re aiming at elite? What are saying NO to so you ‘have’ the time? What tension you living in between building the masses and providing the proper soil from which your elite emerge? Tell me more, friend. Tell me more…
BUILT TO LEAD 