Make it stick

One of our pediatric cardiologists just ran a marathon in Montana.  I bring this up because this just happened to be the last state in the U.S. he needed to run a marathon in to complete his goal of running a marathon in all 50 states!  Pretty amazing!  I asked him the other day if he was going to go for all of the U.S. territories too - he laughed and responded that he was thinking about hitting all 7 continents next.  Good luck!

There is no question that running a marathon takes a lot of hard work, commitment, and dedication.  Perhaps most importantly, you have to really like running (I mean, really like it!).  Over the last few years, I have really started to enjoy running.  It's a nice getaway and provides time for me to just think.  Unfortunately, I have been dealing with an Achilles issue the last several months, so I haven't been running at all.  So, I have been walking instead.  A few weeks ago, my wife convinced me that I should start swimming again.  I was on my high school swimming team (I wasn't very good) and played club water polo in college for a couple of years.  Over the years, I have periodically gone back to swimming as my form of exercise.  And, just like running, swimming laps in a pool gives me some time to think.

Except for the last couple of weeks, all I can think about when I swim is my two high school swim team coaches.  I keep hearing their voices, telling me to "Finish your stroke!" or "Keep that elbow up!"  It's like they are coaching me through every stroke.  Swimming is all about technique.  Swim with bad technique and you are swimming slow and inefficiently.  Swim with good technique, and you will swim much faster and use less energy per stroke.  Technique was important, so our coaches used to really work hard with us to improve our technique.  We did stroke drills every single practice.

No matter how hard I try to get their voices out of my head and think about something else, I just can't do it.  It's almost as if I were back in high school during one of the many early morning swimming practices.  The memories are so vivid and real to me.  Why, after all of these years, have these memories stuck with me?  Both of our coaches were great mentors.  It didn't matter whether you were the best swimmer on the team or the worst one - they both would spend time with all of us, making sure that each of us got their best coaching.  They cared very deeply for each and every one of us.  I remember having to hand over my report card to my coach as soon as I received it - my coach saw it before my parents did!  Luckily I never had trouble in school, but my coaches would always ask about how I was doing and if I thought I could be doing better in one or two of my classes.

The reason I remember their coaching so vividly after all of these years?  Easy - they made it stick.  They were both great coaches because of the things that they taught - not just about swimming and swimming technique, but about life in general.  Taking care of yourself, working hard, being a good teammate, committing to something greater than yourself.  I remembered all of these things, because my two coaches made their lessons stick.  The two business writers (and brothers), Chip and Dan Heath wrote a book called Made to Stick that talks a lot "stickiness" as a concept, which was first raised by Malcolm Gladwell in his book, The Tipping Point.  The Heath brothers use an acronym (SUCCESS with the last "S" omitted) to describe how to make an idea or concept "stick":

• Simple – find the core of any idea
• Unexpected – grab people's attention by surprising them
• Concrete – make sure an idea can be grasped and remembered later
• Credible – give an idea believability
• Emotional – help people see the importance of an idea
• Stories – empower people to use an idea through narrative

As I look over these characteristics, I can maybe see some parallels with how my two swim coaches used to coach us.  However, what I think was perhaps most important was that they made all of us feel valued.  They both thought it was important to coach each of us to the best of their ability.  They gave each of us their all.  They had that ability to make us all feel that we were the most important swimmer on the team, even if we weren't.  And because we felt valued, we gave 100% back.

Leaders can certainly learn a lot about "stickiness" from Mr. Gladwell and the Heath brothers.  And, if you happen to read both of these books, I guarantee that you will be glad that you did and that you will take away something that can help you be a better leader.  But the most important thing (at least in my opinion) about stickiness was not mentioned, at least explicitly, by either Gladwell or the Heath brothers.  The one thing that a leader can do to make his or her team give their all - the kind of effort that is required to run a marathon in all 50 states or to remember the lessons taught by your high school swim coach almost 30 years later - is to make the individuals on the team feel valued.  That's it.  That's what makes it stick.