We overheard an interesting conversation in the gym the other day before starting a day of business coaching at VIM Executive Coaching. The conversation was shared with two “athletes” who are what might be best described as “weekend warriors.” However, the word “weekend” implies concurrent days.
In any event, they started to discuss gimmicks and gadgets they try, almost in a race to outdo one another: cold rooms, hot rooms, chambers, infra-red rooms, infra-red pajamas, pre-, during and post- workout supplements, massage guns, acupuncture, compression clothes, compression tape and all in an attempt to improve athletic performance. It was pretty darn impressive – the gimmickry, that is.
For, as the expression goes, as athletes they spent a lot more time at pretending to work out, than actually exercising. If someone were to poke us and say, “Do you think they are retired professional athletes?” Your response might have been “Meh.”
Did they harm anyone in their race to find the best gadgetry and treatments? Absolutely not. We’re sure they benefitted many online vendors! That was, we supposed, the saving grace. They harmed no one (save, perhaps, themselves). For what was really needed, was that they needed to spend a lot more time exercising and sweating, and a lot less time talking about it. They needed to work on themselves; push themselves within their limits and do what they could do to improve.
Seminars, podcasts and all
In a remarkably similar fashion, there are executive leaders who are similarly tempted to impress and extoll the virtues of the latest management courses, theories and teaching tools; from virtual reality to celebrity podcasts to boot camps and intensives. They are awarded fancy certificates and may appear to have impressive strings of initials following their names.
Do they harm anyone?
The answer is not so easily given. For then can, and frequently do create harm. And it’s not pretty. The external may sound quite impressive; we have heard all sort of titles. However, the real question, the important question is: “How well do they know themselves?”
We need to stop for a second and state that we are not anti-anything (in a gadgetry sense). Whether a weekend warrior believes sitting in a cold room is beneficial to lowering their mile time to 10-minutes, or if an executive leader wishes to scream out assertive statements in an executive bootcamp is unimportant. Nevertheless, neither approach ultimately makes much difference.
What is important is how well (in an executive leadership sense) they are aware of who they are to themselves; how mindful they are; how well they listen and then respond with authenticity, understanding and compassion. We don’t necessarily care about the executive leader who talks the loudest or who possesses the most certificates stuck on the walls of their office, but the executive leader who is the most mindful of those around them.
True bravery in terms of an executive leadership wisdom, is not the one who boasts about not being afraid to make the tough decisions, rather the leader who can explain why the decision was made. The phrase, “Because I said so,” is no longer a viable strategy. Organizations are way too complex for that and perhaps they always were.
We are interdependent, and in acknowledging that, the executive leader must see themselves as being a part of, not apart from everyone else. Mindfulness is the pathway to doing that.
VIM Executive Coaching has absolutely no idea how to explain to the casual athlete what kind of supplement to take to get a major league tryout, but we can help struggling executive leaders to become more effective in their careers.