Every leader we work with wants a kick ass team. You? I mean come on man, who wants a team that just kicks shit around or, better yet, kicks it down the road. The world is filled with normal teams led by normal leaders who habituate kicking the can down the road. Excellence does not live here.
Kick ass teams are built by kick ASS leaders. Fact. Systems do not naturally level up. Systems tend toward entropy – they slowly lose energy. This is why my favorite all time leadership quote, from Ralph Waldo Emerson, kicks some serious ass.
“Our chief want in life is someone who will make us do what we can.”
Your job, leader, is not to placate. Your job is not to go easy. Your job is to get things done and done with excellence. Your job is to demand excellence, not some of the time, not when you have time, and not when you’re feeling like it. Your job is to piss excellence, right?
Every, single, freakin’, team is laced with conflict. Yours too. Fact. My client this early am is getting anxious, depressed, and overwhelmed. The root problem? He’s holding too much of his teams tension. He’s waiting for the right time to transfer it to it’s rightful owners. He’s kicking the can down the road and it’s causing him to ruminate incessantly. He’s being a dumbass. So, today, he got his ass kicked by me. I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t enjoy doing it. I kicked his ass because I love him enough to make him do what he can. I kicked his ass because it was the simplest way forward, thanks Friar Ockham. I kicked his ass because I believe in him. I challenged him out of belief. I still don’t like it. I love him and his team. I love building excellence. That’s why I kick ASS. You?
Live hard. Love harder…
BUILT TO LEAD 