Leaders Participate and Actively Play in the Game of Life

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Playing the game is a totally different experience from being a spectator in two important ways:

1. When you’re a spectator, you’re emotionally detached from the situation. It’s not your reputation, it’s not your “skin in the game” or your money.
2. When you’re playing the game you’re often making important decision without the benefit of having complete information. Whilst a spectator can see the whole game, take the time to assess all available information and reflect on what happened in an objective manner, players in the game do not have this opportunity. Players need to continually make decisions with incomplete information, under great time pressure where the outcome has huge emotional stakes.

As Theodore Roosevelt points out, great leaders don’t lead from a distance. They’re found on the frontline, active in the game of life, dirty, muddy and passionate! Too many of ‘leaders’ today spend their time observing and watching the game, criticising those who are actively involved. What critics fail to realise is that observing and watching the game is very different from playing!

You can often spot those who are not involved in they game of life, they’re always talking about what others are doing, they often talk about what needs to be done to change the behaviours of others and to win the game. Spectators often have good and valid reasons why others should change and often their observations are right, however being right is not important! The point is when we focus on the behaviour of others we fail to take responsibility for our own behaviour. When we spend our time and energy focusing on changing others, we’re distracted from becoming who we need to be, we’re distracted from taking accountability to change our lives. We fail to do what Ghandi suggested, we fail to “be the change we want to see in the world“…..

… and ….. at the end of the day we cannot change others. We can only choose to be player in the game of life, we choose who we want to be, we choose how we want to behave, we choose to actively participate…..

How is your game? Are you actually in the arena? Are you taking enough risk?

Technorati Tags: Attitude, Management, Leadership, Motivation, Business, Quote

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4. Leadership is a choice
5. How many of the 7 habits have you integrated into your life?

Tagged as: Quotes, Teamwork