Inspiration – The Difference Between 90% and 120%

I watched Yogeshwar Dutt  fighting his way through 3 rounds of brutal combat with a swollen eye.  All within 90 minutes.  He was fighting higher ranked, bigger opponents, one of them with a fearsome reputation. Yet Yogeshwar was like a man possessed, wrestling them to the ground and in his last fight reducing his ‘fearsome’ opponent over and over to submission. You could see that he was fighting for something much bigger than himself and way beyond any logical ‘capacity’.

Usain Bolt, after having been recently beaten by Yohan Blake, the ‘young pretender’, turned on the power performance to create a few more records. Michel Phelps beat off the challenge of Ryan Lochte and a host of others to officially end his Olympic career at an incredible 22 medals!! Both these men had already achieved almost everything that was there to be achieved – fame, wealth, power. Yet they were able to find within themselves the motivation to go even further.

Yogeshwar was motivated by the desire to win an Olympic medal to honour the memory of his late father. He probably felt this was his best chance and that super ordinate desire helped him cross the pain barrier and transcend his own belief of ability.

Bolt and Phelps want to be known as ‘legends’ and ‘the greatest ever’. It is this desire that motivates them to follow punishing training routines and enforce self-discipline in the face of many temptations and boredom.

These are all exceptionally talented human beings and I dare say that on that count very similar to many other athletes on display at the Olympics.  However, all of them were ‘inspired’ by a desire that helped them do extraordinary things. In one case the desire was external to oneself, in others totally centered on self. These stories are now known by millions and will get repeated many times over. What will probably be less known are the stories of the coaches; support staff, family members and mentors who helped these athletes find their inspiration and remain focused. To me, those are the acts of leadership that were integral to these successes.

As in sports, so in any other aspect of human endeavour, the key is to find that source of inspiration to move from 90% to a 120 %. That is what a great leader does.

Organisations are akin to team sports and it is the leaders’ task to find the super ordinate desire (vision, goal) that will motivate the largest number as well as find those self-centered goals for individual members.

An interesting and virtuous fallout of inspired performances is how it begets other inspired performances.  The silver from Rathore eight years ago has already resulted in 3 more medals. Yogeshwar, Sushil, Saina and their tribe will inspire the next generation in ways that is sure to see India’s medal kitty increase further in future Olympics.

It inspired me, after a long break, to write. Here is to more all-round inspiration.