“Paranoia — the destroyer!”
– Lyric from The Kinks “Paranoia”
“Man, I tell you what. I’m so paranoid, I quit going to football games. Every time they went into the huddle, I just knew they were talking about me!”
– Chris “Pearlie Man” Knight, a dear friend (too long out of touch!), former colleague, and one of the funniest dudes I’ll ever know
Guess what? They’re not talking about us. Leadership is a lonely place, and if we’re gonna worry about what someone says or writes, we’re not fit for the role. Leaders have to decide. Sometimes, those decisions are difficult. Sometimes they’re flat-out wrong. That’s the gig, and we ought to simply accept it and deal with it. Not only will paranoia destroy ya, it’ll paralyze your team.
“Pearlie” still goes to football games. He really does know they’re not talking about him. It was just his way of saying paranoia was a waste of time.
It’s a lesson I was taught early in my career and one that I see reinforced all around me to this day; in politics, media, sports and pop culture. It weakens good companies and dominates truly awful ones. It’s sad, and it will cost us our best people if we allow it to take root.
If we’re servant leaders and difference-makers, virtually none of it is about us. Before 1991, I’d been a manager for several years, but I thought my successes had more to do with me than they did. It’s a maturity thing and great leaders coach it out of their teams. In May 1991, I got my first real leadership shot from a mentor, the late H. Roger Dodson. “This is a really big deal,” he told me, “but you’re not, and neither am I. It’s about the teams we build.”
Lead fearlessly. Learn relentlessly. And when people that don’t matter “go into the huddle,” don’t worry about what they say. Press on. Make a difference. They’ll still be huddled when you cross the finish line.
Editor’s Note: This post went to press just a few moments before I got word of the passing of Hayden Fry, the legendary University of Iowa football coach. Coach Fry was, and remains, a Difference Maker, for reasons we’ll detail in the next couple editions of the Daily Difference. In fact, it fits the pattern I started a couple of months ago, calling out by name some of the people who’ve had a positive influence on me. Randy, “Chape,” Tom, Owen, “Pearlie,” Tony, Bill, Herb, Pete, Marty, Roger — others, for sure and more to come, starting Thursday with John Hayden Fry and Chalmers William “Bump” Elliott.
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