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PMI Space Coast would like to extend our gratitude to Mr. Anthony Reed for his wonderful presentation on "Leadership Lessons From Some of the World's Toughest Marathons" at our chapter meeting held on June 14, 2010.
Mr. Reed has over 30 years of business experience, including 25 years in management and executive positions. He's authored four books and over 50 articles. The following is an article written by Mr. Reed about lessons he has learned from finishing some of the world's toughest marathons.
Visit Anthony Reed's website at http://www.achievementequation.com for more articles and further information.
Leadership Lessons From Finishing Some of the World's Toughest Marathons
By Anthony R. Reed, CPA, PMP
My management and executive career closely paralleled my long distance running accomplishments. I enjoyed the challenges, strategies, methodologies, human interactions, risks, and rewards of both activities. My passion and profession both started in the early 1980's. They went through many changes and growth. I had to learn from mistakes and successes, while adapting to technical changes.
My running career started in sneakers and cotton shorts and t-shirts. The training routes were carefully planned to include full service gas stations, which had water fountains. Salt tablets and water were my mainstay. Cotton sweat pants were the norm in the winter months.
Today, we wear micro-fiber, running clothes, that whisks away perspiration. My Spira running shoes have coils in the soles, which reduce stress on my joints. We carry camel packs and water belts to tote fluids. Electrolyte fluids replaced salt tablets. And we wear synthetic and special wind resistant clothes in the winter.
Early in my career, project management methodologies included JAD, RAD, SOP (seat of pants), OMG, organized confusion, luck, and the "A-Team" (i.e. It will somehow come together in the end.) technique. More structured methodologies were later developed and sold, which supposedly improved the probability of success.
In both situations, although the tools and techniques changed, humans were responsible for successfully using them to achieve their goals. Over time, my passions and professions were fused. This allowed me to successfully manage multi-million dollar, international projects and endure some of the world's toughest marathons. The projects were on time or ahead of schedule, at or under budget, and to specifications. The marathons included
- The 3,600-step Great Wall Marathon
- Kenya's Lewa SafriCom Marathon
- Antarctica Marathon
When both are performed flawlessly, they appear effortlessly and without any heroic actions. Project heroes are made when they "saved the day" by correcting a major project mistake, which threatens the project's success. If there are no threatening mistakes, there are no heroes. Thus, the objective is a project with no heroes.
This "effortless" appearance makes outsiders grossly underestimate the training and experience required to be successful. Risk is greatly reduced through repetition in training and under different environmental conditions. We trained through torrential downpours, snow, ice, wind, and heat. My "board room" consisted of hills, high altitude locations, glaciers, and dirt trails. And my "co-workers" ranged from fellow runners to free roaming pit bulls, cheetahs, seals, and rhinos. This type of endurance training and racing put managing a challenging business situation, in an air conditioned office, without fear of physical harm in perspective.
Watching a distance runner or a well run project is about as exciting as a watching paint dry. My non-running friends have noted that my form looks the same at the beginning and ending of a marathon. It looks deceptively easy. In fact, they can run with me for a couple of miles. However, this pace becomes uncomfortable for them after about four or five miles.
Like distance running, it's hard for an observer (i.e. non-manager) to appreciate an accomplishment, such as managing a project, until they wear the leader's Spiras. In fact, they may even downplay the leadership and project's success. The observer merely sees the final results and not the training or experience that minimizes the risks. This is like a couch potato, arm-chair quarterback, who never took to the field, but complains about the team.
Preparing for and completing a marathon is the perfect backdrop for examining the problems and challenges faced by today's business leaders. While all certified marathons are the same distance, the dangers, terrain, altitude, and weather offer unique and varying challenges. However, you quickly learn that hills build character.
The leader should weigh the advantages of a short term sprint verses finishing in the long run. You must become a marathoner, who successfully uses his knowledge to mentally and physically push out of his comfort zones towards new limits. You don't worry about things, which you can't control, such as the weather or project constraints. You can only control yourself, while working to influence and motivate other people.
Successful endurance athletes and business leaders exhibit the same characteristics to thrive. They manage change by taking calculated risks and gradually expanding their comfort zones. This is how a miler becomes a marathoner and an individual contributor becomes a successful leader. They must incorporate change, manage risk, and motivate people to go up hills and face challenges at a time when they want to quit. All of this must be achieved in a stressful, uncontrollable business environment.
Achieving success, whether you're in a marathon race or in the rat race, requires focusing on four components
- Goal setting
- Motivation
- Planning
- Execution
These components make up the Achievement Equation (AE).
AE = G times M times P times E
The components are binary. That's to say, they are either one or zero. Furthermore, since the equation is multiplicative, if you fail to follow through on any of the components, its value is zero. Thus, you achieve nothing. An individual, who doesn't set goals, may go through life aimlessly. A person, who's not motivated, lacks the ambition to rise above their current situation. They fear change. Leaders must be able to motive their staff to move beyond their comfort zone and embrace change.
A highly motivated, goal oriented individual, who doesn't know how to plan, is like a dog chasing his tail. There's a lot of dust kicked up and nothing is achieved. This leads to a waste of resources and project cost overruns. This mentality may lead to running injuries or poor performances. Over training may result to overuse injuries. While under training may cause an early exit from the race.
There are many similarities between marathons, projects, life styles, and programs. For example, a project has a defined time period; as a marathon has a defined distance. Likewise, a program is continuous throughout a company's life as is the decision to maintain a healthy lifestyle until death. The program may consist of many projects to keep it viable for the long run. And a distance runner may focus on marathon goals to stay focused on their overall health.
For example, a "green" corporate program may consist of many "green" projects. This may include switching to energy efficient bulbs. Likewise, my running "projects" have helped me to maintain my healthy life style. Over the years, these "projects" have included finishing
- 100 miles every month.
- At least two marathons annually.
- 50 marathons before turning 50.
- 50 marathons in Texas.
- A marathon a month while I was 50. (Each one had to be in a different State or country.)
- A marathon on all seven continents.
In project management, you very quickly learn that you don't have control over your resources. Someone may set the deadline and assign the resources. You must play the cards that are dealt you. The only person you can change or control is you. (Of course, you may try to influence the decision makers regarding these factors.)
Marathoners have no control over the race day weather or the course layout. We quickly learn that complaining about the weather won't change it. Our only recourse is to add or remove clothes, adjust our fluid and food intake, and change our pace. However, we can try to influence the race director to change the course. In both instances, you come to the realization, that you may only control yourself.
When you're training for and running a marathon, you must constantly monitor yourself and your surroundings. Failure to be observant could lead to your death or those of your fellow runners. I've dealt with the extreme cold of the Antarctica Marathon to the blistering Walk of Fame Marathon in Lubbock, TX where the heat index was over 100. I had to prepare for the races and decide at what point to quit or continue. This required constant monitoring and managing the few precious resources (i.e. water, electrolytes, and food), while pacing yourself under stress.
These are a few of the many examples, which are associated, with my passions and profession.
References
- Reed, A. R. (1989) The SMART Degree: A Young Professional's Guide To Reality. Dallas, TX.
- Reed, A. R. (2007) The Achievement Equation: Your Formula For Success. Dallas, TX.
- Reed, A. R. (2008) Running Shoes Are Cheaper Than Insulin: Marathon Adventures On All Seven Continents. Dallas, TX.
- Reed, A. R. (2009) Finding the I in TEAM: Better Team Building Through Individual Building. Dallas, TX.
- Reed, A. R. (2010) Leadership Lessons From Finishing Over 100 Marathons On All Seven Continents. Dallas, TX.
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© 2010, Anthony R. Reed, CPA, PC |
