Grit – Doug Dickerson on Leadership

Swimming Upstream: What Salmon Teach Us About Leadership

Posted June 13, 2022
by admin

Only dead fish go with the flow – Andy Hunt

I read an interesting article at Sciencing.com not long ago about fish who swim upstream. The main reason salmon, for example, swim upstream is to ensure the survival of their offspring. Salmon are born in freshwater rivers, spend most of their adult lives in the ocean, and then return to the place they were born to lay their eggs.

As young salmon hatch in their home stream, they learn the smell of it. As they migrate downstream and into the ocean they may even memorize certain scents along the way. Even after being away for many years, when the salmon return to their birthplace as adults, they will use those smells to “test the waters” and find their home stream. Some studies have shown that salmon use the Earth’s magnetic field to guide their migration. This helps them travel long distances and understand where they are going.

Many interesting things stood out to me as I read the story of the migration of the salmon, but namely, it was that salmon swim upstream to ensure the survival of their offspring.

In your leadership, there will be times, more often than not, when for your survival and success you will need to swim upstream. In your organization, you may feel that you are swimming against the current as it relates to values and direction and this has placed you in an awkward situation.

But not all swimming upstream is necessarily a bad thing. At times it’s going to be required of you. Let’s look at four reasons why.

You have to swim upstream to grow

Your growth as a leader is not automatic and to grow you have to be intentional. When swimming downstream with the rest of the crowd it’s easy to just relax and go with the flow. But if you want to grow as a leader you will have to embrace what John Maxwell describes as the law of trade-offs. In other words, you have to give up to grow up.

Eric Hoffer said, “People will cling to an unsatisfactory way of life rather than change to get something better for fear of getting something worse,” and it’s this mindset that you have to break free from. It won’t be easy and you will have to swim upstream to attain it. But your growth as a leader depends upon it.

You have to swim upstream to stay true to your values

When it comes to your values and belief system as a leader, you will have to fight to keep from getting swept up in the downstream current. It’s so much easier to swim downstream and blend in. And by downstream I mean the downward current of negativity, bad attitudes, office politics, and toxic people.

“The first step toward success,” said Mark Caine, “is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment you find yourself in.” And this is precisely what you have to do as a leader. Your values and belief systems are your non-negotiables and to stay true to them, you will have to be relentless and swim upstream. Just as the salmon swim upstream to preserve their offspring, so too will you need to swim upstream to protect your values.

You have to swim upstream to make a lasting impact

Swimming upstream is painful and difficult. As a leader, you have to embrace the pain if you want to grow and make an impact on the lives of those around you.

Neale Donald Walsh said, “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone,” and this is the push I am encouraging you with – get out of your comfort zone. Swimming downstream requires little of you and consequently produces little from you. Click To Tweet But to swim upstream requires more and therefore, the return is more significant. When you embrace the struggle of swimming upstream you also embrace the reward it generates.

You have to swim upstream to be your best

If you were to pause and look around at those closest to you in your circle- your friends and colleagues, how many would you say are living their best life as they swim downstream? These are unquestionably good people but are in a downstream current with no thought of where it’s taking them.

John Maxwell said, “We become the combined average of the five people we hang around.” Let that sink in for a moment. Think of those five people. Are those five floating along downstream? How many are swimming upstream? Are they taking you downstream with them or are you leading the way up?

Final Thoughts

I believe that your best days as a leader are found when you discover that swimming downstream with everyone else is not the destiny that’s meant for you. It’s discovered when you realize that you want more out of life and leadership than just blending in. And just as the salmon swim upstream to ensure the survival of their offspring, so too, you need to choose to swim upstream to ensure your success as a leader.

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Developing Leadership Grit (Part 4) Tenacity or Tension

Posted April 26, 2021April 26, 2021
by admin

Grit – noun

Firmness of character; indomitable spirit; pluck

Dictionary.com

Tenacious people don’t rely on luck, fate, or destiny for their success. And when conditions become difficult, they keep working. – John Maxwell

Pablo Casals was considered the greatest cellist to ever live. When he was 95 years old he was asked why he continued to practice 6 hours a day. He replied, “Because I think I’m making progress.”

Be it an accomplished cellist like Casals or any other person who mastered his or her craft, it requires a higher standard of grit to go there.

Baseball great Ted Williams was known as a “natural hitter”. Once when he was asked about this natural ability, he responded, “There is no such thing as a natural-born hitter. I became a good hitter because I paid the price of constant practice, constant practice.” And herein lies the difference between those excel in their craft and those who remain stagnant and get left behind. It’s tenacity. It’s grit.

One way this grit can be explained comes from the ten thousand hour rule from Malcolm Gladwell. He spelled it out in his book Outliers. The jest of the rule is this: it takes ten thousand hours of intense practice to achieve mastery of complex skills and materials.

While some have attempted to debunk Gladwell’s ten thousand hour rule, the underlying application is that the secret to success in any endeavor is an unparalleled degree of tenacity to achieve it. Grit is the common denominator.

In this fourth and final installment of developing leadership grit, allow me to recap the leadership grit principles presented thus far:

Leadership Grit Principle # 1 – Give up or Grow – Your leadership will have moments of testing. And ultimately it will be your indomitable spirit and grit that will get you through the tests of leadership that you will face.

Leadership Grit Principle # 2 – Resilience or Retreat – Through grit, we develop and grow as leaders. When we join forces with others, we share the load. Your journey is not meant to be traveled alone.

Leadership Grit Principle # 3 – Ingenuity or Insignificance – Grit survives and thrives with ingenuity. We must play the long game and be open to change and new ways of doing things.

And now, the final principle in this series.

Leadership Grit Principe # 4 – Tenacity or Tension

In the end, you will either set your course as a leader with tenacity or you will live in the tension of unrealized potential.

Thomas Edison said, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” And this is often the source of tension and frustration with many leaders. They start strong but they don’t finish. The task is left undone. The dream never materializes. And this happened not because they lacked intelligence, talent, or necessary skills. It happened because they lacked grit.

Developing grit goes hand in hand with finding your passion. People who are passionate about their work and life’s calling tend to be grittier. They know the cost and are more willing to pay the price for their success. Let’s face it – it’s hard to be tenacious about things we don’t care about.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, grit is the difference-maker between those who thrive and those who get by. Grit will take you further than intelligence alone. Grit is a game-changing secret weapon that will take your leadership to a new level.

It’s time to get gritty.

Resource:

To learn more about the power of grit, I would encourage you to order and read this book by Angela Duckworth.

Click here to order your copy on Amazon

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Developing Leadership Grit (Part 3) Ingenuity or Insignificance

Posted April 19, 2021
by admin

Grit – noun

Firmness of character; indomitable spirit; pluck

Dictionary.com

Our potential is one thing. What we do with it is quite another. – Angela Duckworth

As with many innovations, the originator of 3M’s sticky yellow Post-its didn’t know what he had at first. Researcher Spence Silver was curious about what would happen if he mixed an unusual amount of monomer into a polymer-based adhesive he was working on. The result was an adhesive that would “tack” one piece of paper to another and even restick, without leaving any residue on the second piece of paper.

The company had no use for the adhesive until 3M chemist Arthur Fry began having problems in the choir loft. The slips of paper he used to mark pages in his hymnal often fluttered to the floor, leaving him frantically searching for his place. Then he remembered Silver’s adhesive. Fry’s better bookmark soon metamorphosed into the handy Post-its that have become fixtures in offices and homes around the world.

Today, 3M is valued at more than $100 billion dollars and I’m sure Post-its is one of the main reasons why.

Throughout this series Leadership Grit, we’ve looked at how grit separates lasting leaders from those who are like shooting stars- brightly on the scene for a while before they burn out. Grit is the difference-maker.

Before diving into the new leadership grit principle, let’s recap what’s been presented to this point:

Leadership Grit Principle # 1 – Give Up or Grow Up

Leadership Grit Principle # 2 – Resilience or Retreat

As you develop your leadership grit you will be faced with those choices. Developing grit is a process and is something you develop over time. So let’s take a look at our next principle.

Leadership Grit Principle # 3 – Ingenuity or Insignificance

The Post-it note was developed in part by an act of ingenuity. It had been tinkered around with inside the company in the beginning, but it was the ingenuity of one of its researchers – in attempting to solve a problem, that put the idea for the Post-it over the top as a successful marketable product.

Post-it notes were not the only invention that was stumbled into by accident. Did you know that penicillin, the slinky, corn flakes, Teflon, and popsicles are among numerous inventions that were created by accident?

As it pertains to the role of grit in your leadership or in any other venture, ingenuity or creativity is essential. Being able to look at things in a new way or light is crucial to your success. Click To Tweet

Angela Duckworth is perhaps the leading voice on the topic of grit. In her acclaimed book, Grit – The Power of Passion and Perseverance, she states, “ When you keep searching for ways to change your situation for the better, you stand a chance of finding them. When you stop searching, assuming they can’t be found, you guarantee they won.”

You are never more than one moment of creativity away from an idea or solution that can completely change your course for the better. But those moments will never come for you if you give up. Grit in leadership is digging deep and sticking with it even when others have long since given up.

A best practice for developing grit is to play the long game. Be open to searching for new or different solutions to the challenges you face. Harness the power of a shared grit mindset that pulls together the best and brightest around you. It’s important that as a leader you have a grit mentality, but it shouldn’t operate in a vacuum.

Grit survives and thrives with ingenuity. Without it, it can lead to insignificance. As Duckworth says, “Without effort, your skill is nothing more than what you could have done, but didn’t”. Grit will require effort, but it will always be worth the effort.

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Developing Leadership Grit (Part 2): Resilience or Retreat

Posted April 12, 2021
by admin

Grit – noun

Firmness of character; indomitable spirit; pluck

Dictionary.com

It always seems impossible before its done – Nelson Mandela

As an aspiring young writer, she was just six years old when she wrote her first book. It was a story about a rabbit. Her first novel came along at the age of eleven about seven cursed diamonds and the people who owned them.

As a divorced single mom, she was once so poor that she relied on welfare to make ends meet. If ever there was a person with the odds stacked against them, it was her.

Yet in spite of all of the adversity and hardship she faced, she had an indomitable spirit within her. Yes, J.K. Rowling had grit.

Her Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone manuscript was rejected twelve times by the Bloomsbury London Publishers. Yes, you read that right – the book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published.

Since then, J.K. Rowling’s books have sold more than 500 million copies worldwide in 80 languages. Her net worth is estimated at more than $1 billion dollars.

From humble beginnings to one of the richest women in the world, J.K. Rowling is a profile in grit.

Rowling once said, “I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do ever- was write novels”. And it was grit, in the face of twelve rejections and a myriad of personal challenges that allowed her to do just that. Her contributions through her books instilled a love for reading in a whole generation of children and adults alike.

In your leadership, there will come a time in which you will have to face down your fears and rejections. It will take grit. Most goals and dreams require it. Click To Tweet

As I stated in the first article in this series, developing leadership grit is a growth process. My best advice? Begin with the basics. Before diving into the next principle, let me remind you of leadership grit principle # 1 – Give up or grow up. If grit teaches us anything it’s this – when adversity comes our way this our choice. We can throw in the towel and quit or grow in our leadership and face our obstacles. No one promised smooth sailing which means that sometimes grit is the best card you’re holding in your hand and if played right is all you need.

Leadership Grit Principle # 2 – Develop resilience or retreat

In leadership, as in life, you will have to develop resilience in order to succeed. Even then, you will have setbacks and failures- just like J. K. Rowlings who was rejected twelve times before her first book was published.

In his book, Failing Forward, John Maxwell states, “Successful people have learned to do what does not come naturally. Nothing worth achieving comes easily. The only way to fail forward and achieve your dreams is to cultivate tenacity and persistence”. And this is one of the hallmarks of grit – doing what does not come naturally.

The challenge here is not to see resilience simply as raw emotion or willpower. Think how different your outcomes would be if you saw resilience in a broader context if attached to your life’s greater purpose.

Would your outlook be different if you saw resilience, not as a survival mechanism but rather the life-blood of healthy relationships, mutual accountability, and a purpose greater than yourself? How do you think this would impact you as a leader? Your organization?

Here’s the key- by myself my resilience has its limits. But when joined together with like-minded people the energy is multiplied. By myself, I might have a few wins. When joined with others, I can have many.

At the end of the day, you can choose resilience or retreat. Your choice will make all the difference in the world.

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Developing Leadership Grit: Give Up or Grow Up

Posted April 7, 2021April 11, 2021
by admin

Grit – noun

Firmness of character; indomitable spirit; pluck

Dictionary.com

“Most God-ordained dreams die because we are not willing to do something that seems illogical” – Mark Batterson

“I don’t call meetings for that.” Those six words blindsided me. It was a sucker punch that I didn’t see coming.

Those words came off the heels of what was considered by all other accounts a most successful week. I was fresh out of college and serving in the first church of my young life in ministry. Admittedly, I was green and was cutting my teeth, as it were, and had so much to learn. But at least during this week, I was killing it…or so I thought.

We had just closed out a week of festivities at the church. Parents and students alike told me that it was the best one they’ve ever had. At the close of the week, I was exhausted but feeling good about what we accomplished.

When the pastor, my boss, asked me to come by his office when I was done, I was feeling confident that he was going to congratulate me on a job well done.

I entered his office and took a seat. I was not prepared for what came next. Everything that I had imagined it would be like in ministry and every dream attached to it would be challenged.

My work for the sake of heaven was about to take an unexpected detour through hell. My professors didn’t prepare me for this.

For the next thirty minutes, he torched everything that he could think of and then some. Surely there was smoke coming out of his nostrils and fire on his tongue. He didn’t hold back. When the verbal beat-down was complete, he was challenged as to why he didn’t have anything positive to say about the event.

And that’s when those six words – “I don’t call meetings for that” changed everything. I sat in stunned silence. It was his prerogative to call it as he saw it, and my place to listen- as painful as it was.

As a young leader, this was my wake-up call and my first lesson in developing leadership grit. It was my watershed moment.

In leadership, you will have watershed moments when you have to face down your fears, overcome rejections, tune out the haters, defy the critics, do something illogical, and stand firm on the hill of your God-given dream. It will take grit. Buckle up.

In a series of articles to come, I will share stories that will challenge and inspire you- stories of grit. I first had to start with mine in hopes of inspiring you to believe that there is life on the other side of the hell you may currently be walking through.

Developing leadership grit is a growth process. My best advice? Begin with the basics.

Leadership Grit Principle # 1 – Give up or grow up

In the aftermath of that event, I had a choice to make. Give up or grow up. And while I didn’t enjoy what I went through at the time, it awakened an indomitable spirit within me. I eventually parted ways with the pastor, but not with my dream. It was larger than him.*

While this story is uniquely mine, you may be reading it as you recall a watershed moment of your own. Others of you are going through a struggle right now. Let me encourage you to keep the faith.

Your leadership will have its moments of testing. And ultimately, it will come down to the grit and indomitable spirit within you to get through it. In those moments, you have a choice to make- give up or grow up. Get growing!

*Moving forward in life (developing grit) includes an underlying tenet of my faith – forgiveness. I couldn’t be where I am today with unforgiveness in my heart toward him or anyone else.

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