Winnie the Pooh and the Navy SEALs

There was a book that came out several years ago called, The Tao of Pooh that was written by Benjamin Hoff  (believe it or not, the book spent 49 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list).  The book used A.A. Milne's characters from the Hundred Acre Wood to explain the tenets of the Eastern philosophy of Taoism.  I never read the book (it seemed like a stretch to me, but then I don't know much about Taoism), but I do vividly remember a quote from one of Disney's Winnie the Pooh movies that has always rang true with my own belief system.  I can't remember which movie it was, but I do remember that Christopher Robin was the character who said it:

"Always remember.  You are braver than you believe.  Stronger than you seem.  And smarter than you think."

What a beautiful, poignant quote!  Basically, Christopher Robin is telling us that deep down inside of all us, there is a heart of a champion.  If we put our mind to something, we can and will accomplish anything.  The American philosopher, psychologist, and physician, William James wrote something similar along those lines in his essay, The Energies of Men:

"Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own; sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction."

Finally, there is a former Navy SEAL named David Goggins who talks about something that he calls the "40 percent rule".  In essence, when your mind is telling you that you can't go on anymore, you are really only 40% done.  Deep down, your body can handle more stress and you can face even greater challenges.  Goggins explains this is why the vast majority of individuals (he claims 99%) who start a marathon race actually finish the race.

So what does this all have to do with leadership?  More than you think.  Winnie the Pooh, William James, and the "40 percent rule" tell us that we, as leaders, can push our teams farther than they think is possible.  It's not an easy thing to do (convince someone that they can push harder past the point of physical or mental exhaustion), but it can be done.  These three examples also suggest that so-called "stretch goals" are certainly achievable with the kind of leadership that motivates, supports, and pushes individuals and teams to success.  The drive that allows marathon runners to push past "hitting the wall" at mile marker 16 or Navy SEAL candidates to survive 5 1/2 days of cold, wet, physically brutal operational training on less than 4 total hours of sleep during "Hell Week" is the same drive that will help teams to achieve aspirational, "stretch" goals in just about any other discipline.