There are 10 different blocks that make up the Pyramid of Success. I’m not sure why I’m starting with Condition, there is no real reason for it, but it feels like a good one to start with. Coach Wooden talks about how Condition doesn’t just have a physical meaning, but that it’s also mental, and well moral as well. With it, he explaines that success doesn’t come instantaneously. It’s built through time, effort, and preparation. We see these people who may have a natural physical ability or some other quality that makes acheiving whatever goal they are working towards easy, but really does that mean success they are successful?
Maybe it’s a bad analogy, but lets say you could snap your fingers and have $1,000 appear in your bank account, that’s great but it doesn’t make you a successful saver. What does though is setting a goal, consistently setting money aside, resisting unnecessary spending, and staying disciplined over time, that’s what creates success. As the quote goes, “success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out.” So in that sense, and what Coach Wooden is teaching is that Condition is about the habits and readiness that make lasting success possible.
In Ted Lasso Season 3, Roy Kent finally asks to become a Diamond Dog. If you haven’t seen the show then what in the hell are you waiting on! But I digress, the Diamond Dogs is just a group of guys (Ted, Coach Beard, Higgins, Trent Crimm and Nathan) who sit around and help each other out with their problems…or at least listen.
Roy is frustrated with his personal growth. He says “Apparently, I haven’t done fuck’n shit, because I’m still me”. He wants to be someone better and asks, “Can people change?”
The Diamond Dogs think about it, and after a thoughtful back-and-forth, Higgins says what is one of my favorite lines in the entire series…to be honest I have a lot of favorite lines in this show. But he says:
“The best we can do is keep asking for help, accepting it when you can, and if you keep doing that, you’ll always be moving toward better.”
And there you have it, a sum of small efforts repeated daily. Change takes time, effort and readiness. These are the conditions it takes to move forward, to move towards better. In leadership the goal should rarely (and maybe never) be towards acheiving perfection. As a department director once said to me “don’t let perfect be the enemy of good”.
The job of a leader is to create the conditions where progress can happen:
- Space for people to take initiative.
- Freedom to make mistakes and learn.
- Support to grow and move past obstacles.
We move toward success not by pushing for the perfect outcome, but by clearing the path for others to do their best work, to create the conditions so they can do it again and again.
Success takes time. And while it would be nice to snap our fingers and have everything fall into place, that’s not success, well its not lasting success. True success can be repeated, because it’s grounded in preparation, discipline, and support.
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