Even with the greatest amount of talent possible, you can’t guarantee success for a team. But there are things you can do to increase the probability of success, and a great leader intelligently and ruthlessly seeks out solutions to increase that probability. And when you do, the score will take ...

Here’s a short checklist worth keeping in mind when it comes to persevering, to doing it “your way” at all costs:

• Use positive language and have a positive attitude
• Take pride in your effort as an entity separate from the result of that effort
• Be willing to go the extra distance for the organisation
• Deal appropriately with victory and defeat, adulation and humiliation.
• Pr...

• Do expect defeat, if you’re surprised about ever getting defeated, you are deluding yourself.
• Do force yourself to stop looking backward and miring yourself in misery.
• Do allow yourself appropriate recovery time, but no more.
• Do tell yourself that you’re going to stan...

An organisation is not just a tool like a shovel, but an organic entity that has a code of conduct, a set of applied principles that go beyond a company mission statement that’s tacked on the wall and forgotten.

• Don’t say “why me?”.
• Don’t expect sympathy.
• Don’t bellyache.
• Don’t keep accepting condolences.
• Don’t blame others.

• Don’t mistake activity for action.
• It’s not about if you lose or win, it’s about how.
• Concentrate on what will produce results rather than on the results, the process rather than the prize.
• Exhibit an inner toughness emanating from four of the most effective survival ...

• Exhibit a ferocious and intelligently applied work ethic directed at continual improvement
• Demonstrate respect for each person in the organisation and the work he or she does
• Be deeply committed to learning and teaching, which means increasing your own expertise
• Be fa...

• We can win if we work smart enough and hard enough.
• We can win if we put the good of the group ahead of our own personal interests.
• We can win if we improve. And there is always room for improvement.
• I know what is required for us to win. I will show you what it is.

• Success doesn’t care which road you take to get to its doorstep.
• Be bold. Remove the fear of the unknown—that is, change—from your mind.
• Respect the past without clinging to it: “That’s the way we’ve always done it” is the mantra of a team setting itself up to lose to an org...

When you make a mistake, admit it and fix it. Don’t let pride, stubbornness, or possible embarrassment about your bad decision prevent you from correcting what you have done. Fix it, or the little problem becomes a big one.

A leader must be keen and alert to what drives a decision, a plan of action. If it was based on good logic, sound principles, and strong belief, I felt comfortable in being unswerving in moving toward my goal. Any other reason (or reasons) for persisting were examined carefully. 

• Don’t let the magnitude of the challenge take you away from the incremental steps necessary to effect change. Continue to be detail-oriented.
• Exude an upbeat and determined attitude. Never, ever express doubt, but avoid an inappropriate sunny optimism in dark times.
• Don’t ple...

A resolute and resourceful leader understands that there are a multitude of means to increase the probability of success. And that’s what it all comes down to, namely, intelligently and relentlessly seeking solutions that will increase your chance of prevailing in a competitive environment. When ...

Pursuing your ambitions, especially those of any magnitude, can be grueling and hazardous, and produce agonizing failure along the way, but achieving those goals is among life’s most gratifying and thrilling experiences. The ability to survive and overcome the former to attain the latter is a fun...