In 1941, when World War II was raging and things weren’t looking very good for Britain, Prime Minister Winston Churchill gave one of his most famous speeches at the school he had attended as a youth. It included these well-known lines:
“Never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”
I am frequently asked what makes the difference between good and great performance in athletics and in business. My response is simple: the people who are great performers have the will to persevere through the difficult periods.
A classic example was provided by Mike Shanahan, erstwhile coach of the Washington Redskins, when he talked about Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway, whom he coached at Denver. Shanahan said that it took 15 years for Elway to win his first Super Bowl. One of the greatest players of his generation had to fight through 14 seasons of falling short before he finally got to hoist the Lombardi trophy.
Now more than ever I am convinced that the will to persevere is what sets the great apart from the good, especially in business. There are a lot of talented people in the workforce. I believe that “mental toughness” is a big part of what determines which of these talented people will advance and which ones will not.
I have a friend who is a high-ranking executive at one of the largest defense firms in the world. He believes in this idea so much that when he interviews a candidate for a top position in his company he starts by telling them, “I’m not going to ask you any questions about your skills and talent. You wouldn’t be sitting here if you didn’t have great skills. I want to know about your attitude. How do you react to adversity, and how do you lead others during difficult times?”
Where do you fit in? It isn’t easy but it is entirely up to you how mentally tough you become. It takes courage and determination, and it takes having that courage and determination again and again, through weeks and months and even years of hard times before things finally get better.
So how do you develop mental toughness? Mr. Churchill put it perfectly:
“When you are going through hell, keep going.”
Have a great weekend,
Ro