Hovedmeny

Vi tar med takk i mot synspunkter og tips til vår hjemmeside:

Pacesetters: How to stay ahead of the field

Imagine that you are running in the 400 meter race at the school athletics day. Suddenly, much to your surprise, you find yourself in the lead. What is your reaction? Is it to look ahead and create a new goal for yourself? Or is it to look back at the chasing pack? Trying to run fast while looking backwards over your shoulder is difficult. It often results in falling over.

Pacesetters have a different kind of psychology. They take the lead, maintain the lead and extend the lead. Whether they operate in business, sports or other walks of life, they aim to look forward, set positive goals and out-distance the opposition. Let’s explore the five steps taken by people, teams and organisations who become Pacesetters.

PASSION - They follow their passion. After watching a documentary about famine in Ethiopia, Bob Geldof felt compelled to raise money for Africa. His efforts with Band Aid by-passed politicians and set the new trend for charities. Nordstrom’s stores in the USA are renowned for their superb customer service. Why? "We hire people for their attitude," is the motto. "Providing people have the will, we can impart the skill." Sometimes in Mentoring sessions I ask people: "What do you find exciting?" Sadly, some people find it hard to remember what turns them on. Be they a musician, architect or whatever, Pacesetters do what they love and want to share their enthusiasm with the world.
PURPOSE - They follow their purpose. Mother Teresa pursued her life mission. Others pursue what they see as their next meaningful project. Writing about Career Development in his book *True Professionalism, David Maister says that none of us can predict what we will be doing in five years time. The key question to ask is: ‘What will be the next fulfilling challenge?’ He adds: "Many successful careers, when viewed retrospectively, look like an eminently logical progression, as if a single career choice was laid out at the beginning. Few of them really were planned that way. Careers are built by moving from one challenge to the next. Successful professionals don’t focus on where they want to end up ultimately. Rather, they focus on what they’re going to do next."
PROFESSIONALISM - Pacesetters are highly professional. The Dorchester Hotel in Park Lane, for example, believes in providing their guests with ‘A Home From Home.’ Whether Nelson Mandela, Barbra Streisand or ‘John Smith’ stays at the hotel, they provide everything that will make the guest feel comfortable. Massive research is done beforehand about the guest’s favourite foods, drinks, colours, newspapers, music, TV Channels, flowers, room layout and shops in London. Once the guest is happy with the layout of their suite, this is recorded and reproduced every time they stay--even if it means redecorating the rooms between one guest departing and the next arriving. Professionalism, however, does not always cost money. More often it is a matter of loving your work and developing customer-friendly habits.
PEAK PERFORMANCE - They perform at their best. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross was a Pacesetter in educating people about Dying. Some may argue with her philosophy, but everybody can admire how Elisabeth pursued her mission by running workshops, giving lectures and writing books. Apple’s Macintosh Team also stretched themselves beyond their normal limits. They created a beautiful computer that captured the hearts of people across the world. Mission accomplished, they then dispersed in different directions to start new projects outside their company. Why? Pacesetters experience Adrenalin-highs and find it hard to return to ‘ordinary life’. They frequently move on to seek fresh challenges that inspire them to make full use of their talents.
PACESETTING - Pacesetters create the new rules for the game. Dick Fosbury revolutionised high jumping by inventing ‘The Fosbury Flop.’ Sony influenced our lifestyles by creating the Walkman. Manchester United created a totally new business by merchandising football shirts. Pacesetters do three things:

Pacesetters must remain hungry. History is littered with former leaders, such as IBM, who became lethargic. Microsoft, Sony and other companies, for example, realise the only way they can stay ahead is by continually focusing on the ‘Holy Trinity.’ They must develop their People, Products and Performance. Special emphasis is placed on nurturing People. Why? "Competitors can replicate your Products, but they can’t replicate your People," is the maxim. People Development then becomes the key to developing your Products and Performance.

"Where do Pacesetters get their new ideas?", you may ask. They focus on three areas for ensuring they stay ahead of the game.

POSITIVE MODELS - They study positive models. Richard Branson, the head of Virgin, studies competitors, adopts their best ideas and introduces these to his businesses. Virgin Record Stores, for example, provided their customers with ‘Listening Posts’ long before other music stores in Britain. Let’s explode one myth: You don’t have to be first to stay in front. "It’s more important to be best, rather than first," is an old maxim in business. Copying good ideas and making them customer -friendly is even more profitable. Sony learned this to their cost when Betamax, their video product, was surpassed by VHS.
PARADIGMS - Pacesetters are prepared to experiment and learn from other views of the world. Abraham Maslow turned psychology on its head by studying healthy people, rather than following the traditional method of studying sickness. Tom Peters urged leaders to focus on excellence, rather than settle for mediocrity and, in the process, he became business’s first rock star. Janet, a Managing Director whom I Mentor, visits conferences on such diverse subjects as Creativity; Biology; Ethical Investment; Business Process Re-engineering and Military Planning. Why? "I want to open-up my mind to new ways of looking at the world," she says. Pacesetters are prepared to learn from fresh paradigms.
PROBLEM SOLVING - "At first sight, this looks impossible," declared the MD of the airline. "We must protect our passengers from potential bombers by increasing our security. At the same time, we must provide them with even better customer service. Sounds difficult, but I’m sure we will find a solution." They did. Pacesetters frequently face and find solutions to such perplexing scenarios. After stating the result to be achieved, they continually ask: "How can we do it?" They relish finding possible solutions to seemingly impossible problems. This produces fresh ideas and makes significant breakthroughs. Like Art Fry, the inventor of Post-It notes at 3M, they then set the pace in a way which is profitable, rather than in a way that leads to bankruptcy.

We all owe a debt to Pacesetters. My own favourites are humanistic pioneers such as Abraham Maslow, Viktor Frankl, Maria Montessori, Sylvia Ashton-Warner and Richard Bolles. They showed a new land which gave us a view of humanity’s possibilities. Pacesetters such as these help us to take the next step in evolution towards building a Positive Planet.

The author of this article is Mike Pegg,
British Consultant, Author, Mentor AND Pacesetter.

*David H. Maister, True Professionalism, 1997, The Free Press, Simon & Schuster Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York. ISBN 0-684-82148-6

1997 Kunskapsbrevet Strategier för att Lära & Växa