The 21 Laws of Leadership: How to Develop the Qualities of a Leader

Chapter 10 Focus: Making Leadership More Effective
Focus
If you try to hunt two rabbits at once, you won't get either.

——Anonymous

What people say, what people do, and what others say they do, can be three separate things.

—Margaret Mead, anthropologist
Distinctive focus

In 1998, when the Atlanta Braves and the San Diego Padres were battling for the National League Championship, I was lucky enough to attend a few games.I was a big Padres fan when I lived in San Diego and didn't switch to the Braves until I moved to Atlanta in 1997.I rooted for the Warriors all season until they met the Padres in the Finals.Why did I switch back again?Because I really can't resist the San Diego player Tony Gunn.

Tony Gunn, the most distinguished hitter of the past 50 years, has been the top hitter eight times and has a staggering . 0.339 batting average throughout his professional baseball career.It was a real pleasure to watch Tony Gunn play and I believe he was destined for the Baseball Hall of Fame.

If you met Tony Gunn on the road and didn't know who he was, you probably wouldn't guess he was a professional baseball star. At 5 feet 11 inches tall and 220 pounds, Tony Gunn is not particularly proud of being a professional baseball celebrity, but don't let his humble and low-key style make him underestimate his abilities.

Tony Gunn was spotted by scouts because of his outstanding football skills as early as in college, and even professional basketball teams have taken a fancy to him. Although he has excellent athletic talent, the real key to his success lies in his concentration.

Tony Gunn loves to hit the ball and is single-mindedly focused on it.He reads "The Science of Hitting" by baseball great Ted Williams several times a season.It was one of the first books he discovered, and it was his favorite book in college.He spends a lot of time watching tapes of ball games, has an entire library of batting documentaries at home, and continues to record them with five VCRs via a satellite dish.He even watches these films when he travels abroad.When he went out to play, he always carried two VCRs with him to record his batting.When he's not hitting or watching movies, he often talks about hitting with his teammates, even after he was named to the All-American team.

Tony Gunn's thirst for knowledge has always been unabated, and practicing hitting is his greatest pleasure.He once arrived at a dinner party with his batting glove sticking out of his trouser pocket because he couldn't resist swinging a few clubs on the way.Even when he is not practicing, watching movies and discussing with people, he still takes time to play table tennis or do other activities to train his reaction speed. He even decided to stay in San Diego for a long time to play to help him develop his skills.He said: "One of my strengths is that I know my load capacity is limited. There are no distractions in San Diego. In this city, the media will not chase me, so I can concentrate on practicing."

It's good to be single-minded.Tony Gunn's batting average has reached more than [-]% every season he has become a professional player.Columnist George Will thinks brilliant people from all walks of life have one thing in common, like Tony Gunn: "They develop a heightened level of focus that most people don't understand."

you can also focus more

How can we have better concentration and make the leadership effect better?The point is to know priorities and focus.If a leader only knows the priorities but cannot concentrate, it is like a person who knows what to do but always achieves nothing; but if he only concentrates but does not know the priorities, although he can maintain the quality, he still cannot make things move forward .Only when both are combined does he have the potential to accomplish great things.

I often find that people in leadership positions only pay attention to the small things, which is not very cost-effective.Just imagine what a loss it would be if Tony Gunn spent his time studying base steals.I'm not saying Tony Gunn can't steal bases, in fact, he's managed to steal over 3000 bases in his career, but it's not his specialty.It would be a waste of time and talent if he spent his time learning to steal bases instead of hitting.

But the crux of the problem is, how can we use our time and energy focusedly?The following principles will help you.

1.70% focus on strengths

Effective leaders tend to spend more time focusing on the areas they do well.Management guru Peter Drucker said: "The most amazing thing is not that people screw things up, but that we occasionally get a few things right. Everyone has inadequacies, but everyone They also have their strengths in specific fields. For example, no one will judge the great violinist Jascha Heifetz because he can’t play the trumpet.” To succeed, Focus on and develop your strengths.Only your strengths are worthy of your time, energy and resources.

2.25% focus on new things

Growth means constant change.If you want to get better, keep changing and seek improvement.This means you have the courage to venture into new territory.Gunn had a conversation with Ted Williams a few years ago, and he started experimenting with new ways of hitting the ball.The old man suggested that Gu En should learn to hit the inside of the ball, so as to become a better player.Gunn has always been used to hitting the outside ball. By practicing hitting the inside, Gunn's batting rate has improved significantly.If you can try new things related to your field of expertise, then you can become a leader.Don't forget: in leadership, if you stop improving, your leadership will also stagnate.

3.5% focus on their weaknesses
No one can completely avoid their own weaknesses.The key is to minimize the impact of weaknesses, and leaders can do this by delegating.In my case, I delegated the details to someone else - a team at Yinjiu Group took care of all the logistics of my meeting.That way, whenever I arrive at a venue, I can focus on what I do best, like my presentation.

Self-reflection: Are you focusing on the right track?
In terms of concentration, how do you think you are?How much time do you spend on little things?Do you spend a lot of time focusing on your weaknesses and forgetting to develop your strengths?Are the people with the least potential eating up most of your time?If yes, you may be missing the real point.In order to get your concentration back on track, please take the following actions.

Take time with yourself: You are both your greatest asset and your own hindrance.

Set your priorities: priority tasks need to be done hard.

Play to your strengths: You can maximize your own potential.

Work with a partner: You can't achieve great things alone.

"Prescription" for Improving Concentration

The following three points will help improve your ability to focus.

1. Build on strengths and avoid weaknesses
List three or four things you did well at work, and how much time did you spend doing them?How many resources have you spent on these things?Make a plan so that you can spend 70% of your time on your strengths.If the objective environment does not allow, then maybe you should consider changing jobs or changing industries.

2. Let others fill in your weaknesses
Make a list of three or four things you have to do but are not very good at to decide how to assign to the right person or whether to hire someone new.Can you find someone to share?Please write them down in specific ways.

3. Strive for a breakthrough
Now that you've seen the priorities, think about how to focus and how you can advance in your area of ​​expertise.Do you need any tools?Re-examine the way you do things.Change has a price, but money and time are best invested in things that lead to better things.

Weakness
Experienced trainers know that it is best to walk into a lion cage with a four-legged bench in hand, because it is a good tool for quickly calming a lion, almost as effective as a tranquilizer.When the trainer holds the stool in the direction of the feet and faces the lion's face, it will involuntarily focus on the four feet, which will make it distracted and powerless.Distracted focus is always your enemy number one.

(End of this chapter)