I’ve been watching bits and pieces of the Winter Olympics. At one point, one of the skiers took a bad fall.

“I could do that,” I told my kids.

They humored me with a laugh.

But it’s true. Of everything that these athletes do and make look effortless – I only have the crashing part down.

While watching the figure skaters, my 10-year-old son was inspired to try to lift my 5-year-old daughter up over his head.

They crashed too.

Excellence only looks easy.

What Sets Olympians Apart from Everyone Else

They are more willing to crash.

And not just crash but crash hard. In front of an audience.

And not just an audience, but the world.

And not just once, but again and again.

Don’t believe me? Listen to the announcers tell the athlete’s backstories. They are loaded with broken backs, legs, ankles, and hands. Stuffed with horrendous falls, trips, and mistakes.

The best athletes, the medalists, are literally broken people. For some, they are competing while freshly broken.

And they make it look good.

What makes them different? Crashing can’t make them quit.

Not quitting is the biggest differentiator between those who “make it” and those who don’t.

Absolutely, some advantages matter. Growing up around snow helps produce Winter Olympians. Talent and skill matter. The ability to afford all the gear that goes with most snow sports matters. Access to great coaching and facilities matters.

But none of that matters if you don’t try. Again and again.

And the first consequence of trying is crashing. Crashing comes far more often and much more frequently than the wins.

Even for the winners.

How the Best Athletes and The Best Leaders Are Alike

The best athletes and the best leaders “want it.” They have a fire in their belly. They have a vision. They know what they are trying to accomplish.

They understand and accept that the path from here to there will be challenging. Mistakes will be made. Damage will be taken. But they both get back up, learn what they can, and keep trying.

Other athletes or leaders who experience setbacks react differently.

These are the ones who are surprised at the effort required. Because the successful make it look so effortless!

They are shocked at the possibility of personal risk. “What do you mean there could be a cost to this?” “A price to pay?”

They are scandalized by the idea of errors. Getting it right or, rather, always being seen as getting it right, is what matters most.

The best accept effort, risk, and error. They learn from them.

Are you willing to crash? Or – if you once were – are you still?

My window of opportunity to become an Olympian is behind me. I’ll concede that this window was, at best, minuscule and mostly theoretical.

But my opportunity to grow as a leader remains in front of me. As it does for you.

That’s one of the nice things about leadership. Age can be more of a help than a hindrance.

When I first started learning to lead, I crashed all the time because I had no idea what I was doing. And my emotional maturity was mostly still immature.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned a lot. Hopefully, I have also cultivated a little maturity to match the grey in my beard. I don’t crash around the fundamentals now.

But, I still crash. Especially when I push myself, try something new, or when I forget to practice a fundamental because it was so “easy” for me.

Most leaders don’t like crashing. And as leaders get older, and more successful and established, they like it even less.

Which means they stop doing the kinds of things that produce growth[1]. They stop taking risks. They stop pushing themselves outside of their comfort and their control zones.

Real growth for leaders – new or old –  comes from being willing to crash. And willing to put in the kind of effort and practice that makes crashing likely.

I don’t want to crash. You don’t want to crash.

But I do want what crashing can teach me.

I hope you do too.

See you on the slopes (metaphorically speaking!).

Take good care,

Christian

[1] It actually doesn’t mean they crash any less. But they aren’t crashing due to putting in good effort. Instead, they crash due to getting distracted, becoming inflexible, blinding themselves with their egos, or believing they are entitled to unhelpful and unhealthy choices.  These are often some of the most painful and damaging crashes. In fact, these are the crashes that are most likely to be game enders.

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In the podcast Thought Leaders Driving Returns (TLDR), I’m interviewed by host Hunter Guthrie about how important mindset is in leadership and about effecting cultural change in the face of transition.  LISTEN HERE.

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