The Climb

The Climb

It’s easy to get lost in the weeds. If you’re like me, you might have been blaming the Coronavirus for every one of your 2020 problems. But why? For most, shifting blame onto someone or something else is reflexive. One could say instinctive, but we are not animals. Challenges allow us to grow. So, let’s not get stuck in the weeds. The Washington Post reported, “2.4 million Americans filed jobless claims last week, bringing nine-week total to 38.6 million”1. The most we’ve seen in decades. New York Times also reported: “The cause of this recession — a global pandemic — means that our economic future will be determined in large part by the path of the virus” 2.

Well there goes our year. Right? ..Wrong. The Coronavirus might have caused you to lose your job, it might have had a negative impact on your personal relationships, or even cost the life of a loved one. If history has taught us anything, it’s that our reaction to difficult situations will have as much of an impact on the result, as the cause. Essentially — cause + reaction = result. Don’t get stuck in the weeds worrying about who to blame for your problems. Instead design and implement solutions.

The path less taken. The hard road.

Let’s grow and work towards a common goal. While individually our goals may be different, collectively the goal should be to emerge from this better people. I recently sat down with Kevin L. Nichols, the founder and CEO of the Social Engineering Project. The Social Engineering Project is an Oakland based Google and Microsoft funded social impact venture with Stanford University that is designed to address the lack of diversity in the tech industry through pipeline programs for underrepresented students of color. Kevin’s status as a Gamechanger is attributed to the fact that he is at the forefront of affecting much needed positive change. His professional career began at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as mechanical engineering intern. After realizing engineering was not the path in line with his values, he went on to work as a legal assistant for Morrison & Foster where he founded their diversity program. Nowadays, he’s aiming to solve the tech industries “diversity problem” with the help of his co-founder, Brian A. Brown. Their purpose is only just beginning to resonate with the masses.

Abyss.

In Principles, Ray Dalio coins the term “abyss” in reference to the low points in one’s life. Ray explains how one should look forward to these moments, expecting them, because they are bound to happen. The low points, the hard times are where growth happens. This is where we need to spend time learning in order to rebuild. Let’s consider one of my favorite examples from Dark Knight Rises, a scene called “The Climb”. During our conversation, Kevin noted, “The climb is synonymous with the ladder…and you never really get to the top until you die”. You have to be present, focus on the step in front of you. When you think you’ve reached the top, you realize there’s always another climb. Nothing is forever — good or bad. But, while there’s life, there’s hope.

If you’re like me, you had big plans for 2020 and it’s been really shitty so far. Really shitty. But if you can’t stand the smell of shit, then don’t dwell in it. Let’s make this the greatest comeback story ever told. The Bounce back. Kevin Nichols and I talked about his decline in funding during COVID. I have a feeling he won’t let that stop him. He and Brian A. Brown will continue on their journey despite whatever obstacles lie waiting. Their annual Summer in the City event was due to be cancelled because of the Coronavirus. That would’ve meant a little over a hundred kids missing out on an amazing learning opportunity. The solution? Summer in the City is going Virtual. We don’t know what tomorrow will look like. Truth is we never did. This shouldn’t scare us into paralysis. Do what is necessary today, to put yourself and those you love in a better place tomorrow. We have a golden opportunity to re-create our future.

By Kevin Cisse

How Leaders Attack Failure - Part One

How Leaders Attack Failure: A Series

Part One - College Football Coach Nick Saban

Human beings deal with failure everyday. And it sucks. Failure doesn’t make you feel good. On top of that, if you fail in front of others, or a big crowd, or an entire nation…, you feel a little worse because not only do you know in your head, that you weren’t able to get it done, but the people who witnessed your performance also know that you couldn’t get it done. 

But in moving forward, how do we stop failure from taking a toll on us? How do we quickly regroup and keep ourselves focused on the greater mission at hand? Well, I set up GameChangers to help teach myself and all others about the moments in everyday life that can coach us to be better leaders, to teach us how to build tribes.

Today in Part 1 of this series, we look at legendary leader, Nick Saban - head football coach of the University of Alabama - winner of six national championships, and winner of 79% of his total 314 collegiate football games. 

So how does he attack failure? Well first off, winning 79% of his 314 games is already the opposite of failure enough. But let’s look to his last biggest loss, the national championship game on January 7, 2019. His Alabama football team loses to Clemson University in a lopsided 44-16 - what was his approach to attack this failure?

For the purpose of this article, we’ll take a look at his immediate postgame press conference, the moment right after he gets mollywhopped on national television. How does he handle himself? How does he attack failure? Saban primarily does two distinct things to respond: 1) he maintains the credibility of his program, and 2) presents a purpose to move forward. Instead of succumbing to the impulsive emotion of the moment, he regroups and directs his emotion deliberately. 

Maintain the credibility of the program

Let’s extrapolate for a second. Immediately after any failure: losing a game, a botched presentation, a failed product lunch, not hitting sales numbers for the month or quarter - in the immediate aftermath, we’re looking at harsh critics, crazy emotions, accsuations, confusion, playing the blame game, or even someone else exploiting the moment. We can never take lightly the range of emotion some people might feel. Painting this picture of a potential postgame locker room for Saban (or in another failure example), what’s the ideal way to respond? How can we attack the failure and maintain the credibility of our program?

Let’s look at Saban’s here directly: 

Saban does not attribute blame to anyone, it is not about who is at fault. Instead, Saban maintains the dignity of the program by taking blame upon himself, specifically saying it was a “reflection on the job [he] did.” What does this do? It neutralizes the blame. All of a sudden, the blame doesn’t rest on any assistant coach, star player, offensive line, athletic staff member, etc. The leader of the ship says the blame is on him, and it negates any embarrassment for the team. The buck has stopped with the leader of the program, and his or her demeanor yields how the program recovers.

We know Saban is a great coach, we know he’s won six national championships and over 75% of his games. By taking the blame upon himself, he’s saving his team, he’s saving his coaching staff. No one has to feel the blunt of public opinion upon themselves that they individually screwed up. This is what a credible organizations and credible leaders do. They keep a clean front no matter what. Keep the composure, don’t play the blame game, maintain the respect of your troops and the spectators. 

Present a purpose to move forward

In the face of a loss, emotions are running high, the blame game is going around, and your reputation as a leader is at stake. By keeping up the credibility of the program, a leader is actively driving the dialogue of the situation. This was kind of like damage control. 

But now that the damage control is done, there is still work to be done. And Saban reminds us of how to move forward in this clip below.

Saban begins to explain how powerful this loss is for his team. But instead of using emotion to describe what a crushing defeat it was in front of a national audience, Saban talks about how there’s a glorious lesson in “learning how to lose.” He touches on the immense work that all players on the team have in front of them because of this loss: understand the mistakes, and rectify their process so that it never happens again. Instead of dwelling on the loss, Saban is showing what lessons his team can take away, so that they can move on. More importantly, he’s re-framing the loss itself. Instead of seeing the loss as a problem (they messed up), he sees it as a solution (this game will reveal our shortcomings). The team witnesses all this. And as such, there is a greater chance they maintain credibility and trust in their coach’s program. 

We don’t take on new goals and ideas with the chance that if we fail, we’ll stop trying to achieve those goals. We take on new risks for the growth and the glory that come from it. When the glory comes short, it is imperative we stick to the growth. How did we grow? How did we not? What gap led to the loss? How do we fill that gap next time? These questions excite us, and more importantly they lead our emotions of loss from dejection to curiosity and enthusiasm. Even Churchill would say “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” 

This was Part 1 of How Leaders Attack Failure: A Series. Thank you for reading.

More information on Saban and his leadership style here.

#MaverickMonday - Jeff Bezos, CEO

MAVERICK: Someone who bucks the current trend to stand up for a greater belief or cause. They are our living, breathing GameChangers

Jeff Bezos defines the 2016 business-minded #GameChanger. After founding Amazon.com in 1994, his relentless work ethic and incomparable courage has grown Amazon into a $107 BILLION business!

Bezos does not hold back in his quest to grow his business and brand. That relentless attitude is a huge factor in being a #GameChanger. Why? Because to make that step into being a leader, you need to have courage. That courage gives you the strength to know that while you're being different from the pack, you're out there PURSUING YOUR DREAMS.

You might've heard about SpaceX with Elon Musk, trying to get people to Mars, or Virgin Galactic with Richard Branson, trying to drive space tourism. Both of those were founded in 2002 and 2002, respectively, while Blue Origin (Jeff Bezos' brainchild) had been working on their own secret space mission SINCE 2000! 2 years may not seem like a long time, but when you're planning on building billion-dollar equipment to pursue an industry that is not being pursued by anyone except the richest government in the world, you've got to have some audacity. For being the first player in the game, that takes some serious guts! (Side note: Most of Blue Origin's plans are being kept classified, but I wouldn't be surprised if reports came out in the next couple of years of Bezos' progress surpassing Musk's and Branson's.)

Have you ever bought anything off Amazon.com? Or better yet, have you ever been to any website containing 'amazon' in the URL? Bezos has grown his massively successful e-commerce business from general retail to: AMAZON FRESH (people can get vegetables, fruits, and common pantry items mailed to them), E-BOOKS aka KINDLE (save those 15 pounds of books you're carrying around), AMAZON VIDEO (move over Netflix/Hulu/HBO, Bezos can take you on too), AMAZON PRIME (no one ever heard of reliable, free, 2-day shipping before Amazon), or AMAZON DASH & AMAZON ECHO (look those up yourself if you're really interested).

Think about how many times we've stopped pursuing our goals midway because we were afraid of the outcome. We can learn from Jeff Bezos in this regard. Not only has he seen his projects through until the end, but he has inspired over 230,000 employees to see through his vision too... And let's be honest, there is always push back. You'll never be able to convince everyone of your vision on the first go around. But it takes some passion, resiliency, and courage. To be honest, I thought sending fruit and veggies through home delivery would be weird, but I was surprised to know my boss in fact uses that service. Had Jeff Bezos and Amazon been too nervous and not courageous enough to see that goal through, they would have never found people who need that service (like my boss)! The possibility is there, everyone! Just find that courage - believe hard enough.

As we talk about in our #GameChanger seminar, Transitioning from Follower to Leader, Jeff Bezos has exemplified the necessary leadership ideal of courage, by being relentless in the pursuit of his goals and not worrying about what the status quo had to say. In any part of his career he did not let up moving into a different industry or market. He's changed the status quo and he's changed the game. Rightfully so, he is today's #MaverickMonday and he is a #GameChanger.