I am constantly on the hunt for the best ideas in leadership – leadership of one’s self, life, and mission.
Most often, I learn about these ideas from practitioners, leaders whom I admire who are constantly growing and evolving into the next version of themselves in order to scale with the new challenges and opportunities that they face.
This week, my friend and CEO of a fast growing technology company, Aaron, shared an article with me that captures the requirements of a performance-driven culture. The article is written Frank Slootman, Chairman and CEO of Snowflake and former CEO of the valuable, admired companies ServiceNow and Data Domain.
Performance-Driven Cultures – Preached by Many, Practiced by Few
His main guidance for leaders is this: you are responsible for setting the pace, intensity, and focus of your organizations. To create a performance-driven culture and grow a company, a leader must set a higher velocity, higher standards, and a narrower focus.
Of course, this is difficult because it requires leaders to push people to grow beyond their comfort zones. It demands that they let go of “passengers” who do not drive the company forward. It requires them to prioritize down to a list not of top five, but to a list of one. These three vectors work together and reinforce one another; you can go faster and increase quality by having a narrower focus.
I believe that there is much to be gained by more leaders getting familiar with Slootman’s principles. As a researcher of leaders and organizations, it is hard not to notice a trend taking root within organizations that focuses less on performance and more on “making everybody feel good”. Speech is calculated. Meetings linger. Deadlines get pushed out without consequence. Bonuses are expected and evenly distributed.
Like Slootman, I believe that we “feel good” when we are growing, achieving, expanding, and expressing. The feeling is an ancillary benefit to the creation process. It cannot be the goal.
The 3 Questions to Ask Yourself to Boost Your Performance
I believe that this performance model translates from corporate to our individual lives. If you care about your performance, you must ask yourself:
- How can I take action TODAY? (higher velocity – you have many small chunks of time throughout a day; how are you using them effectively?)
- What are your standards of success? (higher standards – is it insanely good or crap? Meaning – are you pouring your heart and soul into your work?)
- What is the ONE THING that will help me achieve my goal? (narrow your focus; choose an action in alignment with your goal and complete it before choosing the next one)
Courage is Required
Not all companies want to grow at the speed demanded of software companies. And not all individuals want to grow beyond their current upper limit. But if you do, this performance-mindset is your blueprint and courage is your ignition key.
I’ll leave you with this prayer of courage–this reminder of what courage is–to support you on your path to designing a life that you life in concert with your deepest desires and innate strengths, your Soul Excellence Leadership:
