Hi Reader,
If he hadn’t passed away a year ago today, I would have thought it was my dad who said these words to me recently.
“I have a high tolerance for pain and I will work through anything. And I can go for really long periods of time without getting burnt out. I feel it, but I don’t let it affect me. I don’t let it hold me back.”
But it wasn’t my dad I was talking with. It was a CEO and good friend of mine who hired me to do a Working Genius session with him and his COO, who followed with a similar comment.
“We have an entire team who’s like that, so he’s not alone. I’d raise my hand and say the same thing.”
These two guys weren’t boasting. They were simply explaining how they’d been trained.
Both C-suite leaders had previous careers in the military.
And, not surprisingly, they both shared the Working Genius of Tenacity.
People with the Genius of Tenacity are task-oriented and love to take things across the finish line. They don’t stop until all the boxes are checked and the job is done.
This is how both these leaders were wired and their training reinforced their natural tendencies.
My dad didn’t take the Working Genius assessment before he passed so I’ll never know his Working Genius pairing.
But, based on what I know of my dad and what everyone who talks about him says, he was one of, if not the, hardest working men they ever knew.
So, I naturally thought of him when I heard these two guys talk about their grit and determination.
I offered my perspective that what is true of those in the military is often true of business owners.
When you’re the only person in your business, you’ve got to do everything. You don’t bother asking who’s the right person for a specific task or how to “put the right people in the right seats on the bus.”
When you’re the only person on the bus, the question is irrelevant!
You do what needs to be done. And you do it with tenacity to survive. Much like those who serve our country must do when they have no other choice.
My dad wasn’t in the military, but he was the only employee in his business for quite a while.
And, without fail, he did whatever had to be done.
I admired and respected him for that, and my work ethic was shaped by his example.
But he taught me another lesson in his final days.
That’s what caused me to say this to my clients.
“That works until it doesn’t.”
I explained that the idea that leaders and their teams should see what needs to be done and just go do it is okay in the short term. But it’s not sustainable in the long term.
Because you can take this approach.
Until you can’t.
The words of a country song by that title were fuzzy in mind during this conversation, but the message of the lyrics was crystal clear.
We’re all finite.
The tasks we can do with ease in our youth will someday be challenging or even impossible with our aging bodies.
The clear mental processing that comes naturally for so much of our lives will at best be replaced by slower thinking. And, at worst, by confusion and disconnect from the reality of the world around us.
My dad was an outlier in many ways.
When doctors were asking about his mobility at age 81 using questions about being able to walk across the living room, I would explain to them that his struggles were not in the house.
They were in his business when he was still climbing out of his truck, onto the trailer, and into his backhoe.
He was tenacious and tough and just kept going.
Until he couldn’t.
The time came for him, like it will for all of us, when our minds and our bodies will not be capable of doing all we want to do.
Even those who are wired with Tenacity and have developed the mental and physical toughness to persevere through the most challenging circumstances have limits.
We all do.
Even my dad.
And that didn’t mean he was weak or that he was a quitter.
It meant he was human.
He was an incredible man, a wonderful dad, an outstanding husband, and one of the hardest working business owners I’ve ever known.
His days of being able to do whatever needed to be done came to an end last year.
I don’t know when, but mine will too.
And so will yours.
This week I won’t add any leadership insights or make suggestions on how you might consider applying what I’ve shared about my conversation with these two leaders and about my dad.
I won’t recommend that you consider how you’re investing your limited time, energy, and strength and make any corrections based on what you value.
I’ll leave that for you to decide.
You can do that on own.
Until you can’t.
Helping you lead with kindness and confidence,
Greg
P.S. I had the privilege of recording a podcast episode with my dad several years back. If you’re interested, you can listen to it here.
P.P.S. This Friday I’m hosting another live small-group working session focused on the topic, What Should I Stop Doing for My Team. We'll use real situations from participants to think through the work leaders may need to stop doing so their people have room to take on more responsibility.
If you'd like me to be in this invite-only event, just reply to this email and I’ll get you added.
