Who Won the 19th Medal?

Do you suppose Michael Phelps’ 4x200 freestyle relay teammates shared his purpose, his pursuit of that 19^th Olympic medal?

One way or another, they did. The most recent, a gold medal followed on the heels of a silver. By most accounts that silver medal should have been a gold -  had he not fallen back on an old habit of gliding rather than pushing for those last few milliseconds, losing by 0.05 of a second in the ‘200 butterfly.’

The USA team took the relay in what appeared to be an effortless manner.

The press reported it this way, “The relay wasn’t close.” Quoting Phelps, “I told those guys I wanted a big lead…You better give me a big lead (grinning widely) and they gave it to me…I just wanted to hold on and I thanked them for being able to allow me to have this moment.

It may go without saying that, as individuals, each member of that team had their own reasons for meeting the challenge but, at the same time, all had a shared purpose and shared fate. The met it head-on in London.

John Langhorne, in his book, Beyond Luck, enumerates certain characteristics that successful leaders share and in his words, “They create a purpose.” Of course that’s not profound as many have spoken and written on the topic in a variety of ways. Add to this statement, Langhorne wrote, “Leaders build motivation by communicating a mission, a sense of direction or even a small set of explicit goals” and the thought process comes full-circle.

Phelps did that. Successful leaders do it as well.

Clarity of purpose and clarity of fate go hand-in-hand. “Here’s what we have to gain and here’s how we’re going to get it,” is the charge that must, at the same, include an understanding and clearly communicated, “This is what it will look like if we lose or fail to execute the plan.” Obviously, a well thought out plan has to exist along with the clearly defined shared purpose and shared fate.

At the Saga Institute, Don Schmincke has spent years researching shared purposes and shared fates both of peace-time and war exercises. High Altitude Leadership puts his findings in the context of what it means to business and how leaders frequently fail to communicate and clarify this notion of shared purpose and shared fate.

Gliding along to a well-defined finish line doesn’t cut it. Phelps can attest to that.

First Coast News

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/article/266690/483/Michael-Phelps-swims-into-Olympics-history-with-19th-medal

John E. Langhorne

http://www.beyondluck.net/john-langhorne/

Don Schmincke

http://highaltitudeleadership.com/pages/Don_Schmincke.php

Jim Naleid is a Life-long Entrepreneur, Change-Agent and Thought Leader, Managing Director of Naleid & Associates and Regional TEC (“The Executive Committee”) Chair leading a group of executives to become Better Leaders, Making Better Decisions with Better Results. http://www.linkedin.com/in/jimnaleid