Inspirational leadership in links
The US Women’s Open showed the rewards of hard work
Last Saturday, since we have the privilege of living nearby (and since my business gives me the flexibility to do those things), we were part of the crowd that turned out to the Broadmoor Resort in Colorado Springs to watch the US Women’s Open Golf. Championship.
If you’re a golfer, even (perhaps especially) if you’re a man, you should watch the professional women ply their trade… you’ll learn a lot about hitting the golf ball. And if you’re a businessperson or leader looking to increase your ability to inspire your people, you could learn great lessons in personal responsibility and inspirational leadership from these women.
I play golf, and am fond enough to watch tournaments on television and have attended several tournaments as a spectator. On Saturday I was reminded of why I love seeing these women at work: THEY WORK. That’s not to say that their swings are exaggerated, or that they swing too hard. The fact is that you see them between rounds, early in the morning, all the time, working on their game.
They’re out there on the putting green. They are pulling endless shots out of the practice bunkers. They’re on the driving range, swinging. These women seem to be living lives that are endless golf lessons, and they’ll tell you that they learn more about the game every time they swing a club.
And that’s why they know, within a narrow range, where the ball will end up when setting up a shot in a tournament.
I think of some of the 20-somethings I know who are the age of these girls, and I try to imagine those guys working so hard to be good at something. The fact is that the vast majority will not. They would be bored to tears. In fact, the Harvard Business Review reported on a new study showing that fewer American high school students than before say they would work if they had a lot of money. But it’s a simple fact that you have to do boring things, over and over again, for days, weeks, and years, to be good at anything.
A recent documentary about the great chess player of the 1970s, Bobby Fischer, made the same point. They say that the greats of any profession spend at least 10,000 hours learning and practicing their craft. I used to tell singers under me essentially the same thing: “As soon as you’ve gone through this song 500 times, you’ll have it locked up and you’ll never forget it.” And there is no shortcut.
Do you need talent? Sure. But we all have far greater talents than most of us realize. I would say that anyone who is interested enough in golf or chess or singing or leadership to spend 10,000 hours learning that person is talented enough. We all know that the most talented competitor doesn’t always win. That’s why someone invented the phrase “Heart of a Champion.”
People are inspired by greatness. But they are also inspired by the honest effort to achieve it. Some of the most inspiring leaders I’ve ever met were talented young people who hadn’t put in anything close to 10,000 hours, but were clearly and visibly on their own personal agenda toward greatness.
If you’re looking for the inspiration to go big, get out there and start swinging. Start with your 10,000 hours. Do the boring stuff. And when you pause for reflection, look around you and see if there are others looking at you, taking cues and going on their own journey… thanks to the inspiration you’ve given them.
by Michael D. Hume, M.S.