simply turn a deaf ear to rejection, to keep moving forward, to
build into your own psyche the ability to stay true to yourself
and what you believe in. If you had a good idea yesterday, it’s
going to be a good idea tomorrow, and just because you haven’t
convinced anyone to go with it today doesn’t mean you won’t
convince someone to go with it tomorrow.”
Mastery, absolute competence, is mandatory for a leader.
But it’s also more fun than anything else you’ll ever do. Jim
Burke said, “It should be fun, the process ought to be exciting
and fun. The person who’s not having any fun is doing some-
thing wrong. Either his environment is stultifying or he’s off
base himself.”
Roger Gould simply loves what he does. “I’d never known a
psychiatrist and didn’t really know what they did, but it seemed
right for me. I like people and love talking to them on a deep
level. I love being an analyst. I have a great feeling for people
and like helping them. But at the core of it all is a profound cu-
riosity about the thinking process. That’s what drives me.”
STRATEGIC THINKING
There’s an old saying: “Unless you’re the lead dog, the scenery
never changes.” To extend that thought, for the leader the
scenery is always changing. Everything is new. Because, by def-
inition, each leader is unique, his or her circumstances are also
unique.
Sydney Pollack, when asked if leadership could be taught,
responded, “It’s hard to teach anything that can’t be broken
down into repeatable and unchanging elements. Driving a car,
flying an airplane—you can reduce those things to a series of
Deploying Yourself: Strike Hard, Try Everything