Think Humongous

We Might As Well Win

Every now and again, a book comes out whose chapter titles alone are a good read and serve as excellent reminders for situations we face in everyday life. Johan Bruyneel has done just that with his book, “We Might as Well Win.”

Bruyneel was Lance Armstrong’s team director through his record seven straight Tour de France victories. In his book, Bruyneel puts everything he’s learned about winning in a fast-paced, easy read with great behind-the-scenes views into the rise and domination of Armstrong’s cycling career.

In the first part of his book, Bruyneel writes about what he learned from winning:

1. Follow Your Heart – But Bring Along Your Head
2. It Starts with Belief
3. Leave some Dents 
4. Do Whatever It Takes to Communicate
5. To Earn Confidence, Confide
6. Bluff When You’re Weak – And When You’re Strong
7. Lose a Little to Win a Lot
8. Recruit Too Much Talent
9. Trust People – Not Products

In the second part of “We Might as Well Win” where Bruyneel talks about what he’s learned from losing, the chapter headlines continue to serve as the mantras for developing a winning psychology:

1. “Lucky to Stare So Boldy at Loss”
2. When Failure Is Inevitable, Limit the Damage
3. Find a Victory in Every Loss
4. If You’re Breathing, You Still Have a Chance to Win
5. Build the Foundation of Victory During Defeat

In the opening of his final chapter, "Winning Leads to Winning," Brunyeel writes, "From the smallest vistory at home to the most public triumph, every win of your life might be the one that really ends up meaning something."

"We Might As Well Win" is a great quick read whose chapters are the sign posts for plotting the road to success. Visit Bruyneel's website.

Leadership Traits Versus Management Traits: Blue Sky to Black Ink

When I had my own  marketing agency some of our largest conflicts arose out of the chasm between leadership thinking and management thinking. I always find drawing distinctions between the two interesting and important. Interesting because these discussions inevitably lead to judgement about which are good traits and bad traits and important because organizations clearly need both to succeed.

In our case, the business development team was always “out there” selling blue sky thinking and then engagement opportunities came back into the company and had to turn into black ink – something we could deliver. Sales people couldn’t understand why the managers in the company weren’t excited about the business. Managers couldn’t understand why sales people disregarded process and were reluctant to bring more definition to engagements.

Drawing distinctions between management and leadership and being conscious of when you need to be the leader versus when you need to be the manager often helps reduce the tension that can exist between the two.

A few distinctions to get you started:

• Management gets things done within the existing context of an organization whereas leadership establishes and evolves the context.
• Leaders lead people and managers manage tasks. You have your leadership hat on when you’re asking people to follow. You have your manager hat on when you’re enforcing a process. In this vein, leaders speak to people’s hearts. Manager’s speak to people’s head.
• Leaders often use conflict to create change. Managers often avoid or minimize conflict because they are working within predefined systems and are focused on getting people to accomplish tasks.
• A leader’s planning horizon is longer term. A manager’s planning horizon is short term. Here, leaders look to seize opportunities and managers are typically averting risks or threats.

Look at the situations you face and determine which hat to put on. Organizations need both. The best leaders articulate a compelling vision and take people and organizations to new heights. The best managers are the glue that hold people and organization together to achieve results.