Inform Yourself

My good friend Jay Niblick, founder of Innermetrix International, recently completed a study called The Genius Project. His study became the basis for his latest book, What’s Your Genius? I have worked with Jay for many years assisting organizations and individuals achieve a higher level of performance.

Courage to Change
Management theorist W. Edward Deming once said, “It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.” Change requires courage because change is scary. The best way to overcome this fear of change is to make the fear of not changing even greater. I tell my clients, “If you make it easier to fail than to succeed, the only thing you will likely succeed at is failing.” By this I mean, you have to risk something significant enough to make it scarier to fail than to succeed at changing.

In the 8th through 11th centuries, Viking sailors were an acquisitive lot. They had expended their Scandinavian empire to include most of the North Atlantic European coastal areas, reaching south to North Africa, east to Russia and even the Middle East at Constantinople. When it came to invading new lands, the Vikings are rumored to have adopted an interesting and effective means of motivating themselves to succeed. When the Vikings would land on a foreign coast to conquer its lands, to ensure that is wasn’t easier to fail in battle and return to the safety of their boats and the sea, they would burn their boats. This meant that failure wasn’t much of an option because there was no real ability to retreat. Talk about not having an exit strategy.

Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.~ James Baldwin

While we don’t recommend to our clients that they risk their lives as motivation to succeed in becoming more authentic, we think we can take inspiration from the Vikings by creating on sequences to not changing, not getting out of our comfort zone, that are sever enough to help us face our fears, overcome the obstacles we will encounter and endure in our evolution from dissatisfaction and frustration to genius success at something.

To share Jay's own examples of how he have made it harder (i.e., more painful) to fail than to succeed, when he joined the Navy he signed on to become a Search and Rescue Swimmer. As an enlisted person he signed a contract that meant for the next six years the US Navy owned him - literally. In return, they would provide him with the opportunity to attend all the special schools required to become a SAR Swimmer. This did not, however, guarantee he would pass these schools, just that they would allow him to enter. If he did fail to pass, the Navy still owned him, and since he couldn’t take on the role he had signed on for this meant they would assign me to another role. The assignments for those who fail their schooling, unfortunately, are usually all the jobs that no one volunteered for in the first place (like chocking chains on a carrier deck, which involves running under a jet or helo, often with engines running, and tying her down – which is also one of the most dangerous jobs in the military by the way).

Knowing going in that the program had one of the highest attrition rates of all military training programs, approximately 64% of students fail to graduate due to medical injuries or voluntarily dropping on request, he figured the results of failing to graduate were severe enough that doing so simply wasn’t an option. He viewed this as my way or burning my boat so to speak. If he failed he was the property of the US Navy for six long years, likely filling the worst role they had to offer.

There were many times, as he lay there unable to feel most of the muscles in his body, and wishing he couldn’t feel those he could because they hurt like hell, that he contemplated dropping out. He watched a good many classmates hit their wall and give up. As they stood up from whatever abuse they felt was too much, and walked to the brass ship’s bell and gave it three rings, there were plenty of times where he was tempted to follow suit. He remembers one time where, if he thought he could have walked that far, he might have actually done it. In the end, though, his desire to win, along with the dread of sticking his head under a blur of moving rotors on a rolling and pitching flight deck some 18 feet from the edge, was enough to keep him still. Had he been in a situation where quitting was easier than persevering, had quitting meant he would have been let out to returned home to a safe and average civilian job, perhaps the temptation would have been too great, but he made sure it wasn’t easier to fail than to succeed, so he did.

~ If you make it easier to fail than to succeed, the only thing you will likely succeed at is failing ~

The great contributors in life are those who, though afraid of the knock at the door, still answer it.~ Stephen Covey

Some years later Jay did the same thing when he started his own consulting company. Having a nice job at Johnson and Johnson meant security, great benefits, a company car and all the advancement one could ask for with over 172 sister companies at the time. Such security is incredibly important to a young guy with two kids and a stay-at-home wife. But when he walked away from that to start his own business it meant he had to succeed. If you think the attrition rate for SAR School is bad, try starting your own small business. At the time, over 50% of all new businesses failed to survive past the first twelve months and 95% failed to make it past the five-year mark. When he quit he walked away from a steady six-figure income. He invested everything last bit of savings, took out a second mortgage on the house and created significant credit card debt to start the business. If he failed, they would lose their house, and probably have to claim bankruptcy. If the business didn’t take off how would he pay for food, or the boy’s college? Failing to succeed would definitely be harder than succeeding and so with that firmly in mind he stepped off to burn his second boat. Jay quit J&J and put it all on the line. Thankfully, ten years later, the business is still alive and growing.

These are just two personal examples of what we mean when we say, “If you make it easier to fail than to succeed, the only thing you will likely succeed in is failing.” Having a dream is great, and being tired of where you are is important, but what boat will you burn to ensure that you become the authentic genius you deserve to be?

For some it might be a personal boat, like the public embarrassment of telling everyone they are going to change, but then having to admit to them that they failed to do so. For others it might be a financial boat, as in throwing off the golden handcuffs that bind them to their current role to pursue their dream job, or even create their own dream company. What will you put on the line to ensure that you succeed in becoming the genius that you know you can be?
Action Step: What is your boat? What will you put at stake to help motivate you to change and become more authentic?

My Boats: _____________________________________________________________
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