PART IYOURSELF
A friend of mine, Cameron Schwab, spent many years working in leadership roles in Australian Rules Football (AFL) clubs. He was the CEO of three clubs over a period of 25 years: Richmond, Melbourne and Fremantle. For any non-Australians reading this, that is a bit like being CEO of Manchester United, Liverpool and Leeds United in English football! He has seen a game or two of AFL, and been around many players and coaches.
Over a beer one day, we had a chat about a term that is used a lot in the world of sport: ‘elite’. He reckons that most players, even at the top level of football, are not elite, even though they think they might be. Any club would be lucky to have one, two, maybe three elite-level players. Now, that is not to say he doesn't think the other players are any good, or that they don't deserve to be there. They are enormously talented, incredibly fit and among the best footy players, but they are not elite.
The few that he would class as elite are the ones who are still on the field practicing their kicks an hour after everyone else has hit the shower. They are the ones who dig deep for that last lung-busting run towards the end of the last quarter. They are the ones who can step up to the big moments and win games when it really matters. A part of what makes them elite is talent and skill, but much of it is their mindset, and the work they put in, day after day, to be the best.
The same is true with productivity. Many leaders who work at the highest ...
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