This speech from Roger Federer gave me chills.
"When you're playing a point, it has to be the most important thing in the world. And it is... but when it's behind you, it's behind you."
It reminds me of The +1 Framework of Decision Making.
Here's how it works:
Screaming at employees doesn't make you a tough boss. It makes you an asshole.
Great leaders are demanding, not demeaning. They set high expectations and create accountability without abuse.
Yelling is unprofessional. Treating people with dignity is not optional—it's required.
Here's 3 frameworks I stole from Nike to build two 8-figure businesses:
1. More MacGuyver, Less Batman.
The rule that confuses most people in the Nike Manifesto is number 6:
Live off the Land.
Here's how I interpret it:
You don't need more resources.
You need more resourcefulness.
I find it empowering to realize that at any moment, you probably already have all the variables required to be wildly successful.
It's just a matter of putting them together in the correct way.
When we built Escape Climbing we discovered there were two ways to solve a problem:
With Money or with Ingenuity.
That is, you can be Batman or you can be MacGuyver.
Don't get me wrong...
I love solving problems with money, but it leads to lazy thinking and a culture that becomes dependent on RESOURCES.
So to maintain our scrappy culture of resourcefulness, we hired and promoted MacGuyvers.
The result:
We did far more than our competitors with FAR less.
2. The Initiative
In chess there are a few ways to determine who is winning.
The most obvious way is to count pieces.
Often the person with the bigger army has the advantage.
But not always...
See, a smaller army occupying better terrain can hold off a far superior force.
Just think of the story of the 300 Spartans holding back the Persian Empire at The Battle of Thermopylae.
This is called Positional Advantage.
But there is a third way to evaluate a position that 95% of people are completely unaware of...
And in my experience...
(as the 9th Grade South Dakota State Chess Champion, lol)
Whoever has this advantage, typically wins.
It's called The Initiative.
The Initiative is determined by which player is dictating the action.
Which player is Acting and which is Reacting?
Answer that question, and you can predict with a high degree of certainty who will ultimately arise victorious.
Napoleon always had the Initiative.
HE dictated where, when, and how the action would unfold and, as a result, despite often having vastly inferior forces, managed to win.
In business (and in life), a lack of skill or experience can almost always be overcome with the appropriate amount of gusto.
So move towards your goals with momentum, inertia, and ENERGY.
3. Simple Systems Beat Beautiful (complex) Systems.
Often we create beautifully complex systems with fancy softwares and nifty dashboards thinking that OF COURSE this'll boost productivity by 10,000%.
How can it not?
Well, it's because:
"Complexity often obscures actual effectiveness."
Elegant systems are typically over-engineered and under-applied.
The best systems tend to be the simplest (and sometimes the ugliest).
That's okay...
It's not about how the system looks... it's about what it produces.
(P.S. The same can be said about people.)
If you dig content like this, follow me @AnthonyVicino for more.
How to fail miserably as a leader...
• Don't repeat yourself
• Don't track individual KPIs
• Don't check for understanding
• Get emotional and have outbursts
How to win as a leader:
I���m 51.
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Got serious on IG at 46.
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I did it. You can too. But you have to start. Give before you ask. Focus on getting better & not the numbers. Learn before you scale.