We all know about setting goals and creating visions, however despite our knowledge of the subject many leaders fall short of legendary and land on mediocre.
The below is an excerpt (paraphrased) from the book titled “Beyond Entrepreneurship” — Turning Your Business into an Enduring Great Company by James C. Collins and Willian C. Lazier.
…you set a goal not by pure analysis, but by analysis plus intuition. You’ll never be able to prove ahead of time that an audacious goal is going to be 100% achievable.
You have to know in your gut that it can be done, recognizing this simple truth: once committed to a bold challenge, the probabilities of success change.
When President Kennedy first proposed the Moon mission, he was advised that there was only a 50/50 chance of success. He believed in America’s ability to achieve the mission, to somehow turn the odds. He knew that if the country committed to the mission, they would somehow find a way to make it happen.
Think of it this way. If someone puts you on a difficult mountain climb and leaves you an easy avenue of retreat, the probabilities of success would be at a certain level, say for the sake of illustration 50%. Now suppose you are on the same mountain and the avenue of escape is removed; if you don’t succeed you die.
The probabilities of success change closer to 100%. Why?
Because you are committed. You’ll fight, scratch, invent, or somehow figure out a way to the top because you have no other choice…
What would happen if you committed to an audacious goal or vision and removed the possibility of not achieving it?
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Leadership Advocate and Co-Founder of the Goldzone Group. I help leaders to master the new rules of leadership for the new economy. Over the past 30 years, I have visited more than 500 cities in 54 countries to explore, learn from, and help many of the world’s leading companies, leaders, and luminaries in science, technology, health, finance, and entrepreneurship.