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Relentless Without Being Ruthless or Reckless

Relentless Without Being Ruthless or Reckless

Posted on by Craig Johns in Article
Relentless Without Being Ruthless or Reckless

Relentless Without Being Ruthless or Reckless

By Craig Johns

Have you ever wondered what allows someone to achieve high levels of success? 

Whether in sport, business, leadership, music, art or many other areas of life, they find a way to achieve extraordinary things. They may be extremely gifted, but quite often they aren’t the most talented. 

What separates the best from the rest, the ordinary from the extraordinary?

Successful leadership requires a high performance mindset and approach. 

Being relentless in your pursuit of performance is important if you want to succeed, however you need to be relentless without being ruthless and reckless if you want to leave a profound legacy without the train wreck that follows so many successful people.

Before you dive in further, let’s first understand what relentless, ruthless and reckless mean in the context of leadership and high performance.  

RELENTLESS – non-stop commitment

Someone who is relentless is determined to do something and refuses to give up. They will continue to pursue a goal, continually overcoming obstacles and creating new paths when one is leading in the wrong direction. 

It doesn’t mean they will necessarily be full speed ahead 24/7, although as you see below they can be. They will be fixated on an outcome and for some they will do whatever they can at all costs. 

RUTHLESS – taking no prisoners

A ruthless person will do or pursue something no matter the costs to other people or themselves. They are mean, show no mercy and don’t care about a person’s, others or theirs, feelings or emotions.  

Ruthless people lack compassion, are considered very harsh or cruel, will do anything that is necessary to achieve what they want and are determined to succeed without caring about others.

RECKLESS – careless of consequences

Taking a reckless approach means a person doesn’t care about getting bad results or the negative consequences that occur as a result or your actions. They disregard danger and the effect their behaviour will have on other people.

Warning signs don’t enter the memory sphere and are considered wasted space. The risks involved aren’t either considered or are disregarded for a bigger result. 

When All 3 R’s Collide

It is likely that you have seen people act in a relentless, ruthless or reckless way. You may have seen people act in a combination of two or all three of them and in most cases the trail of destruction isn’t pretty. 

If we are all being honest with ourselves, a majority, if not all, of us have been in situations where we have experienced modes of each one and combinations of the three. I know I have and the times where all 3 aligned are not some of my favourite memories.

“When I was 14 years old I broke my arm while playing touch rugby at school. My relentless approach to winning and in field hockey helping my team win meant I would continue playing with an arm in a cast. We were winning by 5 goals and on my relentless approach to continue adding to my 47 consecutive successful penalty stroke conversions, I shifted into a ruthless and reckless mode of disregarding the thoughts of my teammates by deciding to take a penalty stroke with the broken arm. Joe was a highly accomplished penalty stroke taker and great co-leader, but my ego kicked in and I had to take it. I ended up missing the goal and breaking my unbeaten successful attempts.“

Craig Johns

Relentless Pursuit of Athletic Dominance

Michael Jordan is regarded as one of the all time best athletes the planet has seen. His pursuit of excellence is second to none. Relentless in every approach to being the best basketball player the planet has ever seen. Ruthless in his addiction to bringing the best out of his teammates for the collective goal of winning, but at times reckless in regards to the long-term mental and physical toll inflicted on them. 

If we look at the 3 greatest male tennis players of recent times, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, they all excel in their relentless pursuit of excellence. 

Djokovic has a massive team and will leave no stone unturned in finding that extra 0.001% of performance, however his ruthless approach to getting what he wants is well publicised and even more his reckless disregard of the consequences of his actions was for all of the world to see as he his visa was cancelled on trying to enter the 2022 Australian Open. 

Nadal is relentless in his preparation and routine to achieve the performance state that it takes to win global majors. His ruthless attention to his own routines has quite often impacted other people. However, is not likely to show signs of recklessness as he is quite calculated in his approach to winning. 

Federer on the other hand is relentless in ensuring all aspects of his life thrive while understanding the changing needs of his body as he ages. Over the past decade he has shown a relentless approach to finding a way to win or stay in the game. The ruthless and reckless aspects of his personality from his younger days have disappeared. 

Business Is Not Bigger Than the People

Shifting into the business world, let’s compare 3 highly successful business leaders Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Indra Nooyi. 

Musk is noted for his relentless pursuit of new innovations. He is known for his long work hours and ruthless approach to the working environment. The collateral damage in his reckless disregard of his personal life has led to his 3rd marriage and his children don’t speak to him. Also known for his unorthodox or unscientific stances and controversial public statements. At what cost has success been for Musk?

Facebook changed the shape of our lives and how we view it. In Zuckerberg’s relentless pursuit of socially connecting the world, the negative consequences have resulted in a reckless disregard to the mental health of humanity. He was ruthless in crushing the competition, acquiring rival companies and copying innovative features with a single-minded purpose of being the best and most dominant social media conglomerate. 

Nooyi is one of the pioneers of the new leadership. Her relentless approach to being human centric and changing the way the Pepsico was perceived is admired by many people around the world. She has done it in a compassionate and humble way without the need for being ruthless and reckless. 

High Performing Leaders

The true high performing leader’s relentless pursuit of an outcome or excellence is all about being 100% present and focused when on task, and switching off to recharge and recover in between high energy focused efforts. 

“I learned this the hard way between 2012-2014 when I stepped into my first C-Suite role leading a team of 500 people from 22 nationalities and highly talented people in the sport, health, mind, education and hospitality industries. My relentless approach led to working intensely for 70-80hrs a week over 302 days straight.

Our ruthless approach to demanding excellence, removing people who weren’t up to our high standards and crazy drive to be world leading at everything we did led to recklessly flatlining in hospital. I had let my own inner drive to win become win at all costs and it led to quite a lonely time where I had put work before my people and my health. 

This led to a conversation where I realised I needed to Break The CEO Code and implement the high performance skills I had learnt and excelled at as an athlete and sport coach.

The result is I relentlessly focused on scheduling, focusing and investing in my energy to ensure that I avoided moments of ruthless and reckless behaviour.“

Craig Johns

They are driven to achieve results, make effective decisions and exceed expectations through bringing the best out of themselves and the people they work with. 

To bring their best performance mindset, performance and productivity, they know they need to integrate regular exercise, good nutrition, a calm mind and purposeful recovery into their daily environment.  

They work hard, but more importantly work smart in their relentless pursuit achieving a higher level of individual, team, company and industry performance. Knowing what to focus on, where to place their energy and how to use their talents is a priority to a high performing leader. 

Wellbeing, enjoyment, purpose and inspired people fuel their approach to leading highly successful teams. Work is all about precision, efficiency and detail and never settling for anything less than excellence. The leaders are concerned about providing an environment where people can thrive and not just survive in their role. 

Removing the Unnecessary

To be relentless without being ruthless or reckless requires precision in planning, preparation and people management. Your instinct and how you react has everything to do with your practice. What you practice becomes your performance. 

Take some time to remove the unnecessary risks and actions so you and your team can thrive no matter what the world throws your way.  

It’s time to take a selfless proactive approach to your leadership so you can relentlessly pursue your vision and goals without ruthlessly affecting other people and reckless creating harm. 

Remember a relentless non-stop commitment means you do everything you can be on when you need to be and also off to recharge. Leadership and high performance is not about taking no prisoners and being careless of the consequences.   

Spend some time to reflect on your leadership and pursuit of a vision, goal or excellence. Write down any aspects of ruthless and reckless leadership. Next to this list write down what you could do that wouldn’t have any negative effects on other people or danger to yourself and the company. Now take action to implement these changes while still being relentless.   

Be an Inspiring Great Leader.

How Heavy is the Weight of the World on Your Shoulders Link
How Gravity of Leadership Effects Your Impact Link
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How Heavy is the Weight of the World on Your Shoulders? Gravity of leadership Craig Johns

How Heavy is the Weight of the World on Your Shoulders?

Posted on by Craig Johns in Article
How Heavy is the Weight of the World on Your Shoulders?

How Heavy is the Weight of the World on Your Shoulders?

By Craig Johns

Have you ever felt the weight of the world on your shoulders so heavy it has flattened you? You feel paralysed by the burden, exhausted by the piling up of tasks and overwhelmed by the excess pressure of responsibility. 

It is as though the energy is being sucked out of you and your feet are being swept out from underneath you. 

Why is it that leaders feel they need to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders? 

Is it the overwhelming pressure to perform because one has great responsibilities? Maybe it’s a fixation on problems because of actions that have occurred in the past or worry about what might happen in the future? Could it be that the leaders own internal expectations or the external expectations of stakeholders are unrealistic and combined are too much to handle? Or is it because of a fear of failing, fear of being found out, fear of letting the team/company down or even the fear of disappointing someone?

WEIGHT OF YOUR WORLD

One of the three aspects of understanding your Gravity of Leadership is the heaviness of the weight of responsibility you carry. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of “carry the weight of the world on one’s shoulders” is to feel much pressure because one has great responsibilities. Therefore the weight of the world on your shoulders could be any one of a number of the possibilities noted above. 

Carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders, can overwhelm even the most experienced leaders. As Uncle Ben famously articulated in the 2002 movie, Amazing Spider-Man, “With great power comes great responsibility”. 

The phrase “having the weight of the world on your shoulders” has its origin from Greek Mythology in which Zeus, the king of all gods in the Olympus, made Atlas carry the heavens to separate it from earth where a group of people called the Titans were fighting the Olympians in order to put a stop the clashes.

Taking on a leadership role is like a parent watching a baby. You can’t take your eye off them, you are sensitive to every sound they make, you are consumed by everything in that baby’s life and it’s like nothing else in the world matters. In many ways you have no choice as the baby can die if you’re not attending to it. It is the same as leading a company, coaching a team or guiding a community, if you take your finger off the pulse it might stop. The question is how much pressure does your finger need to apply to the pulse?

After observing both parents and leaders during my lifetime, there are three commonalities which result in the weight of the world on your shoulders, becoming ineffective and at times quite detrimental to your performance. 

CONTROL - TREAT LEADERSHIP LIKE HAVING A THIRD BABY Gravity of Leadership Craig Johns

CONTROL – TREAT LEADERSHIP LIKE HAVING A THIRD BABY

When you see a parent with their first born child they tend to focus their entire attention on the child, protect them from hurting themselves, try and do everything perfectly, be there every step of the way, caught up in what they or you have just done, am I doing the right thing, fast-track their growth and how it will affect them in the future, and worry about protecting them from every small possibility that could happen in the future. 

Does this sound familiar to you? It’s called Control. You are likely to have seen this with first time leaders and even leaders when they start out in a new role or with a new team. This level of control will eventually restrict you, inhibit growth and become overbearing for the team members.  

Ben Horowitz, author of what you do is who you are and the hard things about the hard things, once said, “As a startup CEO, I slept like a baby… I woke up every two hours and cried.” Have you been in a leadership role when every aspect of the company or team you are leading consumes your mind 24/7 and begins to weigh you down or hold you back from being at your best?

As people mature into a leadership role or have experienced a few different leadership roles, we tend to see a shift in how they lead and what consumes their mind. They start to relinquish control and they notice their company or team starts to perform better. The high performing leaders understand what is important, where to focus their attention and what they can let go of. 

As a leader you must treat your company or team like it’s your third baby, not your first. Have you noticed by the time a parent has their third baby they are less controlling, are more relaxed, allow the baby to explore and learn at their own pace, spend less time worrying, focus only on what is really important and are better able to spread their time across more aspects of their life. 

Great leaders empower rather than control, manage their own and teams energy wisely, remove unnecessary expectations and focus their attention in areas that make a difference. 

RESPONSIBILITY - LEAD LIKE A MONK Gravity of Leadership Craig Johns

RESPONSIBILITY – LEAD LIKE A MONK

When you see or hear of a monk, what is the picture that forms in your mind? For me it is a calm, caring, unhurried, centered and under control person who works with others for the collective good of people. They use their energy, expectations and emotions wisely through shared responsibility and collaboration. 

Compare this to a poor leader who seems hurried, stressed, self-centered, over-controlling who is only focused on numbers, output and how they look. It is as if they intentionally try to make their life, and those they lead, harder. Any mistake or question becomes a burden and adds weight to their responsibility. 

Effective leadership is not just about taking responsibility, it’s more about how we carry and distribute it. 

Monks have a very clever way of sharing the responsibility load so that not one person carries all the weight of expectations, duties and requirements. They view responsibility as an act of service. Service to the community. They view their responsibilities as serious, rather than burdensome. 

As a leader, view responsibility in a servant leadership lens. Remove the burden of unnecessary responsibilities, requirements and expectations. Allow each person to assume a level of responsibility that serves them, serves the team and if working in a company serves the client. Shift your attention to how can we together carry the weight of responsibility of the entire team, company or community? 

FAILURE - ITS NOT ABOUT ADDING MORE WEIGHT Gravity of Leadership Craig Johns

FAILURE – ITS NOT ABOUT ADDING MORE WEIGHT 

If you have ever been to a gym or you have watched weightlifting on TV you will know what happens when you add too much weight to a squat bar, dumbbell or exercise machine. At some point you fail to lift the weight, something breaks or it comes crashing down on you. 

Adding more tasks, expectations or level of responsibilities at some point will lead to Failure as a leader. Maybe you get sick, you react negatively or spread yourself too thin. 

When it comes to carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders, you have control over how heavy the weight is. There is never a time where there is no weight and like going to the gym you always need some weight to grow and perform better. You have full control over the expectations you set on yourself, how many tasks you take on, how you manage your energy and where you focus your attention. 

Yes, the external expectations of stakeholders can weigh you down, however you can still control how to manage that expectation internally. How can you reframe the expectation to ensure it doesn’t become burdensome?

Its your responsibility Gravity of Leadership Craig Johns

IT’S YOUR RESPONSIBILITY

Controlling the controllables is important, but it is even more important to know how much control and where to relinquish control so the team or company can thrive. Focus on what aspects are important to have your finger on the pulse and where to let go, just like a parent does each time they have another baby.

It’s your responsibility to share the responsibility among the team as you will not be able to hold the weight of the world on your shoulder if you allow it to get too heavy. How can you lead like a monk and focus on collective responsibility without burden?

Be present and attentive to how much weight you have applied and when it’s a good idea to remove the weight or move it to someone else’s shoulders in your team or company. 

Jim Maxwell famously said, “everything rises and falls on leadership”. As a leader it is important that you manage the energy, expectations and emotions to ensure the whole team rises rather than falls with the weight of responsibility.

I will leave you with the challenge to lighten the weight of the world on your shoulders. What will be the first thing you take off?

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Gravity of Leadership Craig Johns

How Gravity Of Leadership Determines Your Impact

Posted on by Craig Johns in Article
Gravity of Leadership Craig Johns

Gravity of Leadership

By Craig Johns

Your Gravity of Leadership has the power to create or destroy, inspire or dishearten, empower or restrict, include or exclude, thrive or struggle, be present or distant, fight or flight, strengthen or weaken and grow or wither away.

I’m curious, how are you perceived as a leader? Good, average or bad?

I don’t believe people intentionally set out to become bad leaders who create toxic environments that negatively impacts their employees, team, community, friends or family members lives. 

In most cases people set out with the intention to be good leaders who make the right decisions, support their people and enhance their team, community or company they are involved in. 

However, we all know that the intention of being a good leader does not always match the reality of the situation. 

Whether it be the influence of environments leaders have worked in, childhood beliefs, a lack of leadership training or an unconscious lack of self or situational awareness, leaders can have quite a detrimental and negative impact even though they are trying their best to lead the people around them,

What I have found is that when you are conscious and intentional about your leadership, you can increase the chances of your Gravity of Leadership having a positive impact and influence on people, teams and companies.

When Delta Airlines plummeted from the skies

Let’s take a look at Delta Airlines, who were once famous for their customer service excellence. The leaders introduced cost-saving measures that slashed corporate training budgets and staff perks, led to an almost overnight collapse. 

Famously known for their smiles, Delta Airlines employees became grumpy and no longer motivated to care about their customers. As you can imagine, the result was customer voting with their feet and moving to competitor airlines who placed high value on customer services. 

Within 3 years, Delta Airlines went from being routinely voted by passengers as one of the top 3 airlines in America to filing for bankruptcy. They were rescued, but have never regained the trust and loyalty of passengers, even after rebuilding the old culture of hospitality and excellent services. 

One decision, by the leadership team, was all it took to create a seismic event that went off the Richter scale. Their Gravity of Leadership and a long lasting legacy effect that they are still paying for. 

What is the effect of your decisions, behaviours, attitudes, choices and opinions?

As a leader your impact either draws people together or pushes people away. The strength of your impact can vary from being barely noticeable to extremely dramatic and therefore determines how slow or fast you pull people towards each other or push them away. It’s like a combination of gravity that pulls people in and a magnet that either repels or attracts people. 

Gravity comes from the latin word gravitas that means ‘weight’, which is derived from its latin root of gravis meaning ‘heavy’. In regards to human beings, the greater your gravitas the heavier the weight your ideas, influence and authority have on people.  

But your gravity of leadership is much more than just gravitas. If we look at gravity, it is the universal force that attracts objects in space towards each other. On planet earth, gravity is the force that pulls objects towards the centre of the planet. In leadership, your Gravity Of Leadership is not only the strength of force on people, but also acts like a magnet where you can either pull people together or push them away.

How can you shift your Gravity of Leadership?

Your own Gravity of Leadership has the ability to create a culture that has a powerful feeling of inclusiveness, belonging and connectedness. The choices you take and the decisions you make can have a positive impact on the people you lead and serve.

How you lead can leave an influential lasting legacy beyond your lifetime. Your Gravity of Leadership is quite often silent and you may not be aware of the positive and negative impact you are creating.

Being conscious and intentional about how you lead others and yourself is an important start to shifting your gravity of leadership. How much impact are you prepared for and willing to create through your leadership? How do you want to be perceived as a leader?

Think about a critical mass of people moving and working towards something better would be like gravity – difficult to resist, difficult to fight, and if you do, you’ll be shot off into stratosphere all by yourself!

So what is it that creates an irresistible gravitational pull as a leader? 

Stay connected and find out more in the Gravity of Leadership Linkedin newsletter as each week we help you to discover the DNA of high performing leaders who create thriving teams.

Beyond The Comfort Zone Link
High Performers Cultivate More Powerful Traits Link
Are You Living Link
People Are Our Greatest Assets Link
It’s All About Trust Link
Are You Leading A High Performing Culture? Link
Are Leaders Born? Link

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