The Emptiness of Our Leaders

About our leaders, what do we actually know? We want very much to know, to be confident in following them and, ideally, try to be like them. Possibly you can name the leaders in the front position of your industry or line of work. Perhaps you think you could be more successful if you could be more like them, so you study their works, buy their books and perhaps even seek jobs in their organizations. Even when you've calculated all you can about them and believe you understand the keys to their achievement, you don't. There's one more thing you must do.

Your search for distinction is a noble journey. Unluckily, the path often leads to insane irritation instead of triumphant success when apparently little things are unnoticed. Sometimes just one simple thing is the key to resolving the performance barriers that have been holding you back, allowing you to finally attain your objectives with easiness.

It's been decades since apprenticeship was the common road to mastery of a occupation or skill. Today College is the conventional answer, with knowledge distribute by way of lecture halls, online courses, and e-mail exchanges with professors. associations are informal and not very close. Today we are more out-of-the-way from the people from whom we need to learn. Technology makes it easy for leaders to defend their personal space and keep learners at a distance. Yes, we're learning, but we're not learning enough. We are not learning the important piece.

No matter how carefully we listen to what others say, no matter how closely we watch what they do, our mimicry will be imperfect because we really won't understand why they do what they do. We must get close enough to understand the back-story. If we want to truly learn from another, we must get close enough to hear them breathe.

The leaders in our profession have made thousands of tiny choices which, in combination, have enabled them to perform at high levels. To perform similarly, we must understand their value system and how they came to make those choices. That's how successful leaders of the past learned to succeed.

- Benjamin Franklin was an apprentice of his brother James to learn the printing trade. Franklin's success as a printer later funded his kite flying and political ventures.

- James Lick was the wealthy man in California when he died in 1876. He learned the piano making craft from his father, and Lick's mastery of those skills was the cornerstone to building his fortune.

- Levi Strauss learned the clothing business working side-by-side with his older brothers Louis and Jonas in New York City. Six years later he moved to San Francisco to open up shop, and soon discovered an opportunity to apply what he knew to make rough trousers for the gold miners.

The words a leader uses and the acts they execute are only indication that how they think. Every individual has an historical outlook and a point of view, or lens; they use to look at the world in which they execute. Unless you get close enough to hear a top performer breathe, you'll never have the opportunity to learn and discern those things.

How a leader thinks is the key to understanding how they take in information, process it, and send it out, much like breath. Until you understand the source of what they say and do, you're missing the key ingredient that will enable you to duplicate their successful performance.

The top performer in any area of knowledge need years to obtain and relate what they know to execute at peak levels. Be patient. A need for speed defeat success. Invest the time to build relationships and learn from the best, and allow breathing to occur at its natural speed. Don't rush it or you'll hyperventilate and get faint. Set aside the e-mail and the Internet, and arrange to spend long periods of time working alongside with the leaders from whom you want to learn. Breathe the same air long enough and one day you'll find others willing to copy your brilliance as well.