Escape From Excellence

Thsi weekend, I devoured Walter Isaacson’s bestselling biography of Albert Einstein. This excellent book does a great job of helping us to understand both the science and the man. While Einstein was imperfect and a bit eccentric (he hated socks), his mastery is unquestionable. There were many excellent scientists in his circle who got close relativity, but Einstein had the decisive breakthrough primarily because he had escaped from excellence. He led with energy more than with effort (although his effort was herculean), and with intention rather than mere commitment. He also went beyond proficiency and expertise to attain true expression and perspective. And, even though his strategic moves are legendary, acumen was child’s play to him; he always sought wisdom in his science and denigrated science that lacked this wisdom.

But late last night, while in the last chapters, the elements of a new equation that explains so much of Einstein’s mastery leapt off the page at me. Here it is: C+A=W>M. To have fun wth symbols, let C be curiosity, let A be awe, and let W be wonder, with M as, you guessed it, mastery.

Einstein had a boundless curiosity, but it was always accompanied by an almost religious sense of awe. He was no mere puzzler, but needed to see to the heart of things. This curiosity and awe added up to a sense of wonder, a humble and almost child-like sense of that ’something more’ that transcends the mundane. And this wonder, even more than his technical genius, his brain, or his independance, is the driving force of his mastery. He had a sense of the beauty, of the possibility, of the sublime in nature, and he saw it as both his mission and his gift to understand nature, from atom to cosmos, and be devoted to it. He saw this as an act of artistic creation. This was his Dynamic Essence. He couldn’t not follow it. He built his life around it, and achieved mastery. The results were exponentially greater than what had come before. He also enjoyed, in his reknown, legacy, and “profit,” an exponentially greater reward. And with his unfailing good humor, he demonstrated that the costs of excellence were left far behind.

What a guy.

This post shares a personal anecdote to make a point about Leadership Mastery, specifically the results of leading from vision in mastery, vs. managing in excellence. We recently moved to a new house that we are remodeling and renovating. The entire project gave me an opportunity to overcome my personal bad side (controlling, micro-managing, worrying), and gave me a chance to practice what I preach. An example of Leaderdship Mastery in action?

Background: We live at home, and we also work at home. In addition, we exercise at home, and my audio recording studio is at home. We’ll do pod and video casting from home. So it’s not just a house, it’s headquarters. Upon moving in, we immediately needed: a new kitchen, a new mudroom, a new roof and roofline, two new offices and a meeting room. We also needed a master plan for improved deck, patio, planting, bathrooms, and for a fourth floor media room. Also, the offices and studio would need acoustic treatments for soundproofing. My wife Michele and I collaborate on everything, and we really enjoy design. But the stakes are high and the budget is never high enough! Plus, we’ve already got a lot on our plates. Would this put undue strain on us? It’s a very enlightening micro-case study.

Managing from Excellence would have had us set big goals regarding scope, timing, and costs, do extensive due diligence, assemble and vet a crack team, closely manage the details, require hard work, seek efficiencies, confirm quality, confront unexpected crises, acknowledge emotional needs, and manage all of this against strategic goals based on our desired outcomes (multiple usage, business growth). Had we taken this approach, perhaps the team (architects, vendors, contractors, and sub-contractors) would have respected and admired us in the end, and maybe they would have feared us. We’d meet our contractual obligations, always act professionally, and maybe tip a few people. Either way, the job would be done on time, on budget and well. And it would have nearly killed me, and everyone who had to deal with me! The Excellence Trap would have extracted its inevitable hidden costs.

Instead we chose Leadership Mastery, leading to an experience in which the ”only-do-it-if-you-have-to-because-it’s hell” of remodeling turned out to be a piece of cake, a delight, with better results at a lower price, and at a lower personal and business cost. How did we do it? By leading from vision; by inviting, enthusing, and inspiring everyone we worked with to participate in that vision; by encouraging them to bring their vision to the project; and then by getting out of the way! More specifically, we made the Five Shifts of Leadership Mastery.

Here’s the story, as briefly as I can tell it: (more…)

We’ve all heard the old saying about how success is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration. That’s true, but it’s really only true if you’re in the excellence trap! Sure, it takes work to bring a good idea to life. And it takes skill. The Big Book of Failure is full of ideas that never saw the light of day because their creator had no idea how to take ideas from concept to reality. But when in the excellence trap, inspiration really is front and center only 1% of the time. And that’s too little. Only 1% inspiration keeps innovation rare, change small, and growth incremental. And worse, most people in excellence don’t really know how to be inspired, only driven. And there’s a difference!

Think about it. Drive is about commitment and effort, two of the virtues of excellence that get corrupted into entropy and fixation, and so become costs of excellence, specifically depletion and misalignment. On the other hand, true inspiration is about both unexpected, non-linear, innovative thinking, and genuine enthusiasm to do something with it. It comes from the Five Virtues of Mastery (energy, expression, perspective, intention, and wisdom).

The masters I know are about inspiration 70% of the time, and the rest of the time they bring it to life, more efficienlty and effectively, with lower costs and greater results. Look at the efficiency of the perfect golf swing, the effortless expression of the great saxaphone player, and even the lose-track-of-time quality of doing what you love.

Do these people look like they’re working? We’ve all known people who say, “That’s why they call it work.” But I have never met a master who says that! Only failures and mediocrities say that. They may be nice hard working people, salt of the earth, but they’ve lost the plot. Instead, masters say, “All work in sacred.” If you interrupted, say, Tiger Woods or Charlie Parker during a training or practice session, they’d likely tell you how hard they are working, and they are. Then ask them if they’d rather be doing anything else. Anyone want to guess what they’d say? (Hint: rhymes with snow). Their work and their inspiration are one. That is sacred work. That is mastery.

Each 1% increase in inspiration can create an exponential return. So let’s maximize return on investment by increasing Return on Inspiration.