Category: Leadership

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Ambition makes it nearly impossible to enjoy the success of others. You can shine, just don’t outshine me.

In addition, insecure bosses feel threatened when someone outshines them.

Furthermore, it’s hard to help others outshine you when you’re in the middle of an organization. A “shiner” might be promoted over you.

Safe success:

Organizations are filled with people who avoid threatening the boss. They practice safe success; success that doesn’t outshine the boss. Everyone knows you can shine just don’t shine too brightly.

Beyond honoring high performers:

Make it safe to help others shine. It’s easy to see performance and harder to remember those who helped it happen.

You get what you praise. The more you praise those who help others shine the more shiners you’ll get.

Avoid fixating on high performers and neglecting performance-helpers.

Help performance-helpers by honoring, acknowledging, and praising their efforts. Create cultures that…

The other day, while channel surfing, I caught a glimpse of Spencer Tracy playing Santiago in Ernest Hemingway’s, The Old Man and the Sea.  It didn’t register much at the time because as you may know, when one channel surfs, the little grey cells kind of take a nap.  Later though, I began to think about that story and the lessons it has to teach us.

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For those who are unfamiliar with the story, Santiago is an old fisherman living in a village not far from Havana.  Fishing is his livelihood and yet he has failed to catch any fish in eighty-four days. The young boy, who usually goes out with him, is instructed by his father to stay away from the old man. He is bad luck.  So Santiago goes fishing alone.

On the eighty-fifth day, he decides to go out further than he…