What We Miss From Our Leaders

p>What do we really know about our leaders?choices. That's how successful leaders of the past
We yearn to know enough to be confident inlearned to succeed.
following them and, ideally, to emulate them.- Benjamin Franklin served as an apprentice to his
Perhaps you can name the leaders in thebrother James to learn the printing trade. Franklin's
forefront of your industry or profession. Maybesuccess as a printer later funded his kite flying
you believe you could be more successful if youand political ventures.
could be more like them, so you study their- James Lick was the richest man in California
works, buy their books and perhaps even seekwhen he died in 1876. He learned the piano making
jobs in their organizations. Even when you'vecraft from his father, and Lick's mastery of those
studied all you can about them and believe youskills was the cornerstone to building his fortune.
understand the keys to their success, you don't.- Levi Strauss learned the clothing business
There's one more thing you must do.working side-by-side with his older brothers Louis
Your quest for excellence is a noble journey.and Jonas in New York City. Six years later he
Unfortunately, the path often leads to insanemoved to San Francisco to open up shop, and
frustration instead of triumphant success whensoon discovered an opportunity to apply what he
seemingly little things are overlooked. Sometimesknew to make rugged trousers for the gold
just one simple thing is the key to resolving theminers.
performance barriers that have been holding youGo to the Source
back, allowing you to finally achieve yourThe words a leader uses and the acts they
objectives with ease.perform are only clues to how they think. Every
Show or Tellperson has an historical perspective and a point of
It's been decades since apprenticeship was theview, or lens, they use to look at the world in
common road to mastery of a profession orwhich they perform. Unless you get close enough
craft. Today college is the conventional answer,to hear a top performer breathe, you'll never
with knowledge dispensed via lecture halls, onlinehave the opportunity to learn and discern those
courses, and e-mail exchanges with professors.things.
Connections are casual and not very close. TodayHow a leader thinks is the key to understanding
we are more isolated from the people fromhow they take in information, process it, and send
whom we need to learn. Technology makes itit out, much like breath. Until you understand the
easy for leaders to protect their personal spacesource of what they say and do, you're missing
and keep learners at a distance. Yes, we'rethe key ingredient that will enable you to duplicate
learning, but we're not learning enough. We aretheir successful performance.
not learning the important piece.The top performers in any area of expertise
No matter how intently we listen to what othersrequire years to acquire and apply what they
say, no matter how closely we watch what theyknow to perform at peak levels. Be patient. A
do, our mimicry will be imperfect because weneed for speed defeats success. Invest the time
really won't understand why they do what theyto build relationships and learn from the best, and
do. We must get close enough to understand theallow breathing to occur at its natural pace. Don't
back-story. If we want to truly learn fromrush it or you'll hyperventilate and get dizzy. Set
another, we must get close enough to hear themaside the e-mail and the Internet, and arrange to
breathe.spend long periods of time working side-by-side
Nano Lessonswith the leaders from whom you want to learn.
The leaders in our profession have madeBreathe the same air long enough and one day
thousands of tiny choices which, in combination,you'll find others eager to duplicate your
have enabled them to perform at high levels. Toexcellence as well.
perform similarly, we must understand their valueCopyright 2008 Paul Johnson.
system and how they came to make those