" Marie was a modest lady. She was very bright, more capable even, than some of her fellow employees in her department. Even than some of her superiors in the organization. But she differed to them, something she somehow learned growing up. She wanted to avoid rocking the boat in any way. She wanted to be invisible and anonymous as possible, never to be the source of controversy or the center of attention. Her immediate boss liked her for her attitude of silent servitude, because he was just like her. You know, getting along with everyone. They were both well-liked by their peers. They both failed, together, as the company slowly slipped into oblivion."
The lesson? She had no strategy for failing. Nor did the company. Shameful.
You may be saying to yourself right now, "What in the hell! Why would someone want to know how to be mediocre and fail?" This story was taken from a book I am currently reading called How Executives Fail by Dr. Lee Thayer. It is part of the curriculum of a leadership group I am part of call HP3. The premise behind this book is if you do not know how to fail then how would you know how to succeed. This book actually inspired my brother Tyler LaFleur to write a book on how to fail at health called Health Perversity: Rules for Becoming Sick, Fat, and Stressed.
When I read the above story and the lesson to follow, I couldn't help but ask myself "What is my strategy for success? Do I even have one or am I just lucky?" In an attempt to remove luck from the equation, I figured it was time to start outlining my strategy for success. So here goes nothing........
In order to define a strategy for success wouldn't someone need to define their interpretation of success first? Success could mean so many different things to so many different people. I could spend this entire blog post defining my interpretation of success. In order to spare you of that boredom I will just use the definition from Webster.
success:
a : degree or measure of succeeding
b : favorable or desired outcome; also : the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence
One of the most influential men if my life beside my father has been Coach Tony Robichaux. While I have never written a success strategy before I personally believe one could be written directly from the principles Coach Robe exemplifies. Coach Robe may be known for his baseball coaching abilities by the public, but to those who know him best know that his life and character skills are far more valuable. Below I have outlined some of the most valuable characteristics I have learned from Coach Robe.
If you want to see more on Coach Robe's Success Strategy, check out his presentation here:
All of these characteristics line up to one thing that is has been etched into my mind from my time spent with Coach Robe. He defines someone who can fully embrace these characteristics as a GRINDER. I can still hear him saying "Baseball is a grind! Life is a grind! You better learn to love the grind or you won't make it!"
Love the grind? Say what! That is a hard but rewarding concept to live your life by. It actually has been the pinnacle for my success strategy. Coach Robe actually has an acronym to help bring this to light:
GRINDERS
While this success strategy is a start it is definitely not an exhaustive list. I would love to hear your success strategy. Please email me your success strategy or feel free to leave in the comments below.