You may remember the first “Dream Team” to play in the Olympics in 1992. It was the first time that NBA players would participate, and it meant bringing together the best players in the world on one team. Think of the amount of talent and egos which needed to learn to work together instead of competing. It was something which had never been done before. The man in charge was Chuck Daly. He sat down after dinner for his first meeting with his three assistants, two of whom were college coaches (Mike Krzyzewski of Duke and P. J. Carlesimo of Seton Hall), and not used to the egos and talent level of the NBA. The first words out of his mouth to them were, “The first thing I want you to do is learn to … ignore.” He had learned as an NBA coach that being “hard of hearing” wasn’t a bad thing.
Why would any leader share that wisdom and is it applicable to you as a leader?
The short answer is because it’s good advice and yes it applies to all leaders. In this situation, Chuck Daly knew there would be plenty of little things that would happen during the Olympics, squabbles between personalities and egos, different viewpoints and who knows what unexpected things might happen and that instinctively his coaches would want to deal with them. His concern was only about how his team played in their games, that was his sole focus, and he wanted it to be theirs too. Everything else was trivial and needed to be ignored.
If you are a leader and want to be successful, take Chuck Daly’s advice and learn to ignore the trivial things that happen around you every day. If you try to pay attention to everything or fix the little problems that exist every day in every department, you will lose your focus on the few things that are most important in determining your success and that of your organization.
Yet I find that many leaders just can’t ignore things, they hear everything and react. Why does this happen?
My experience is that two things have the greatest impact on a leader’s focus.
They don’t know what to focus on – Seriously. Some leaders don’t know where they should focus their energy and time, the things their organization needs them to fix or improve. When this happens, they focus on everything and feel like they are doing something. Imagine a garden of plants. They each need water, but not the same amount or intervals. These leaders go and pour water on everything, constantly, but the garden (their organization), doesn’t flourish.
They want total control – Which is an illusion. They fear failure and mistakes, so they focus on every little detail hoping to gain control and eliminate failure. Their life is in the minutia of their operation, making decisions that others could make. They believe they are productive because they are doing so much, but the attention to the little details causes them to miss those key things they should be focusing on.
Trust me, in all organizations there is “static in the air”, but unless you are directly involved, it’s probably better to let things fix themselves or someone else fix them. Remember, you are a leader, not the master of the universe. Keep your attention on those few things that will have the greatest impact on success.
No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Philippians 3:13-14 (NLT)
