#291: Why it doesn't matter whether you are a turtle or a hare
Why do winners become losers, and what to do about it
Stephen Covey tells us to start with the end in mind. What I am here to say is that there is no end to the race. Whether or not you pick the tortoise of the rabbit, there will be a leopard or cheetah that jumps the line somewhere down the road.
How do you win every race?
To win in your mind, you must define victory in your terms. Don’t let the market dictate whether you won or lost.
Picture in your mind the 1984 Chrysler Minivan. Did Chrysler lose the minivan race? They created a brand new category of vehicles. Not a truck, not a car, it’s a crossover. At one point they had 100% market share - so they took off like the rabbit in the famous fable. Other auto manufacturers eventually passed them, but they continued to sell out their capacity for a long, long time.
Do you consider them a winner in the long race of minivan sales? Or a loser? If you look at the results, they lost - but what if they defined victory as first? Or that displaying & executing innovation is more important than market share?
Some of you may be old enough to remember Chrysler’s slogan for nearly a decade: “We don’t want to be the biggest, just the best.” Lee Iacocca coined many of those phrases; here are some of his most quoted. I see a common thread, do you?
“In my book, if you’re not No. 1, you’ve got to innovate.”
“The most successful businessman is the man who holds onto the old just as long as it is good and grabs the new just as soon as it is better.”
“We are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.”
“You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can’t get them across, your ideas won’t get you anywhere.”
I see innovation, not market share. I see creativity, not mass production. Many would put Iacocca in the top 25 of any leadership list of the last century. He didn’t look at an endpoint, just the next point in the race. His definition of success was not to be the biggest, just the best. Iacocca established his vision of what victory looks like with these quotes. He helped define the culture of the company for over a decade.
What does success look like to you?
This is an important question you must ask yourself regarding any program you are pursuing. Paint a picture of that realistic expectation, and make sure everyone understands and sees this vision. You can quantify it with profitability, market share, or efficiency improvements. Many people put in what they call stretch goals, such as success would be $3.00 earnings per share, but if we hit on all cylinders, $3.25 isn’t out of the question. When you fall in at $3.09, you are still a winner. If your competitor is at $4.00 - it doesn’t matter.
We have written in the past; the only person you should compare yourself to is you - yesterday. The same goes for your people, product, and processes. Are you improving? Did you get as far as you wanted to?
Rabbits, Hares, Tortoises, Turtles, it doesn’t matter in the end. Did you run the race the way you planned and meet your goals?
Now a quick shoutout to my Detroit Lions to underscore today’s less. If any of you watch the NFL Hard Knocks this summer, it highlighted our Lions. At the end of the show, the producers ask the players and the coaches the same question; What will the 2022 Lions be?
Dan Campbell, the head coach, was the final answer before the screen went to black.
“The 2022 Detroit Lions will be a team that can, and will”.
And that is exactly what they became. He didn’t set expectations that they would win a playoff game or go to the Super Bowl. His definition of success was this. And they did exactly that.
Vision matters. If you are having a tough time developing one for your organization, give us a call at the Kole Performance Group. Let’s define it together. It’s hard work today, but it will lead to a better tomorrow.