Lessons for lawyers from this sensational summer of sport.
What do Edinah Jebitok, Sifan Hassan and Lewis Hamilton have in common?
Answer: As July passed the baton to August in 2021, all three experienced the same misfortune.
As Howard Stupp reminisced fondly of his father's advice:
“that’s just life. Sometimes you get blamed for things that aren’t your fault.”
Watch the conversation by accessing the Members’ Zone at www.fuelandmove.com .
Jebitok, Hassan and Hamilton, each fell back through no fault of their own.
Hamilton restarting after the crash, in pole position but with what turned out to be the wrong tyres, forcing him to pit after 1 lap putting him in final position. Hassan and Jebitok being pushed to the back of the 1500m Olympic race because of the tumble over an other athlete who stumbled ahead of her.
Hamilton went on to push through back up the back and finish second in the Hungarian #F1 #GrandPrix. After the race, he spoke of suspected long covid. When you're operating at that level of performance, self-awareness and recognition of how changes affect you can be the difference between life and death. Adapting training and preparation for changing environments, contexts, emotions and physical wellbeing all go into the mix to set him up for the success he produces seemingly effortless.
Hassan came back to finish, winning the heat, running an Olympic record lap, and is all set up for a tri-sweep of 1500m, 5000m and 10000m in #Tokyo2020.
Jebitok ran her race and even though she had to rely on the referee’s decision, she’ll be joining Hassan in the semi-finals.
Each finished their own race.
The question is: when you fall back, how do you get your head in gear, to focus on what you have to do, and finish your race?
No judgment. We all respond differently in different circumstances.
Sometimes it's just a matter of digging deeper, dusting yourself and get back going. Other times, we need to take a step back (or three) to regroup, recover, rebuild so we can go forward stronger, faster, better.
Sometimes we can do it alone, sometimes we need to get help. As long as we don't empower the fall to take us out. All too often we think we have to do it alone and do it straight away, dig deeper and figure it out and we carry that internally and actually that burden holds us back and slows us down - the exact opposite of what we want.
Sometimes it's in letting go, that we free ourselves to move forward.
To move forward,
first be free let go.
Here's another well-known example to anyone who's followed Michael Jordan or watched The Last Dance will know that his championship winning breakthrough came when a new coach, Phil Jackson (discover more here), arrived who enabled him to let go and be part of the team without letting go of who he was and unlocking the full force of MJ's hunger and drive to win. Phil knew how to bring out the best in his individuals, whether that was MJ, Scottie Pippen or Dennis Rodman - each very different, each super champions, none perfect.
Each of these players and the team experienced falling back for many reasons, including reasons that were of no fault of themselves. Each comeback slightly different depending on the people, the contexts and controllable elements before them. Sometimes, unexpected and unconventional.
In law, it's not so different.
People are driven by
different motivators
Different people are driven by different motivators to bring out their best. Some are overt but the most powerful motivators are hidden and misunderstood to the untrained eye.
We see it in every aspect of our work.
Whether in a negotiation or working as part of a multi-disciplinary team or critical to the success of the next transformation, we can face unexpected set backs and outcomes because we misunderstand the people, the context and ourselves.
For example when that negotiation takes a turn that hurtles the relationship closer to a litigation than a deal, or a transformation where people lose interest and withdraw collaboration.
But if you know what works for you and how to bring out your best in different contexts and changing environments, you’ll be in a far better position to manage yourself and your teams and deliver a better version of success.
At Fuel+Move, we provide lawyers the support they need to work out who they are (and what motivates them), and what they can do to put themselves in a better position to deliver better outcomes from themselves, their clients, their teams and their employers.
We focus on individuals so that they can shine confidently in their perfectly unique and authentic way through the ups and downs, so that they can deliver value that benefits all.
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