You Don't Have to Come First, Just Finish

We are programmed from an early age to believe that Winning and Losing are our only two options. Indeed, they seem to be the only alternatives that are recognised within any competition.  You either won or.. you lost.  However, this mentality serves to keep many from even getting out onto the field of competition.  If they already believe that they have little chance in 'winning', then what is the point in competing?  This thinking prevents them from participating, learning and growing.  In fact, they could lose far more by not entering and completing a competition than by entering and failing to come first.

There is much to be said about those who enter a competition regardless of not being a first-place contender.  They know this and enter anyway.  In doing so, they are already leap years ahead of those that determine not to enter, not to try, simply because they could not place first.  Those that strive simply to finish, to test themselves in an activity they are not exceptionally skilled or gifted in, are perhaps telling you more about themselves than those that ultimately place.

Recruiters need to start to recognise the value in considering candidates that 'finish', not just simply those that walked away with the trophies and awards.  Think about what it takes to succeed in your organization.  Although I often get the immediate response from clients that they are looking for 'winners', it quickly becomes apparent that the phrase 'winners' simply isn't applied to those that have 'won' a race or competition in the past.  In fact, most organizations would look at defining a 'winner' as someone who demonstrates tenacity, someone who finishes what they start, regardless of the cost.  It is often this stick-to-it-iveness that helps to define those who ultimately achieve the most in life and... those that don't.

Few competitions truly recognise the value in finishing versus only recognising those arriving first, but there are some.  Marathons, for example, provide all who finish the race with a medal.  They honour and recognise the achievement of someone completing 26.2 miles.  Run, walk or crawl they did what those on the sidelines and those back home sitting on the couch did not.  The achievement says a lot about them.  The Iditerod, perhaps one of the most gruelling races of all, is one of the few that recognises the last place finisher with a special trophy, The Red Lantern.  They know that the musher who finishes last showed the grit and determination to complete the race, to cross that finish line without giving up.  It wasn't easy, giving up would surely have been easier, but their commitment and tenacity took them across the line.  Recognition of those qualities is sorely lacking in business, which explains why those qualities are missing from many businesses.  You get what you recognise and reward.

Start with your recruitment processes.  The going in your business is likely not always an easy one.  You want people that will hang with you through the tough times.  Look for those that have done something difficult, something that challenged them and yet... they didn't give up.  That is an ability worth hiring.  It is a skill worth recognising and it is certainly a behaviour deserving of promotion.

Don't mistake winning with winners.  Winning simply means you came first in a race.  Winners are those that continue to drive and push, to make things happen.  They are the people that cross the finish line long after others have quit.  They don't have to come first, but they do have to finish.

Getting Gritty to Get Ahead

One of my favourite movies when I was younger was True Grit, starring John Wayne as the irascible Rooster Cogburn.  Though the movie was recently remade, nothing touches the original 1969 version in my mind.  For me, the image of John Wayne in this role and Kim Darby as Mattie Ross come to mind whenever I hear the term Grit.  The movie revolves around a young woman looking to hire a man with 'true grit' to help her hunt down her father's murderer.  Throughout the movie Mattie continues to demonstrate that she has more grit than any of the men she was looking to hire.  Perhaps that's why the movie appealed so much to me, the thought that we may just discover within ourselves, that which we think we need to find externally.

Grit isn't a term that you typically hear others using.  Think of 'Grit' being a passion and perseverance for long-term goals.  It is persistence and tenacity, stick-to-itiveness and fortitude, it is living life like it a marathon and not a sprint.  So much contained within four letters.  Recently, the term Grit has been making a comeback within business circles.  New research being conducted has found that the number one characteristic that is the key predictor of Success is not IQ, not EQ, not even how charismatic or good looking you are, it's... Grit.

This begs the question of course... just how do you go about developing your grit?  There is no straight-forward answer to this but recent work from Stanford University on the Growth Mindset just may prove to be laying the foundation for the right path.  Their works highlights that you have the ability to grow and change your brain in response to challenges.  As you face new challenges and work to overcome them, you develop and strengthen your perseverance.  Those that give up... don't.

But this means that failure is required.  There is a need to face challenges in which success is not a given.  Grit is developed in those moments of failure.  If you let your failure define you, you're done.  Instead, grit requires you learn to recognise that failure is not a permanent condition.  The acceptance of this belief is necessary to persist, to push through.  You have to belief that there is better, that there are other alternatives to failure, and therefore you continue to push for the result you want.

Tenacity.  Perseverance.  Fortitude.  Grit.

As it turns out, these are the words forming the backbone of success.