Click to watch Sportchek video

We’re in the midst of Olympic fever right now.  Whether or not you love or hate the Olympic movement and all it has become, there is no greater forum where we witness the magnificent human drama of athletic competition.

Sport is an area of our culture, particularly world class amateur sport, where we see the depth of wholehearted, passionate pursuit of excellence.  What I find most compelling are the stories of what the athletes have had to overcome in order to reach the Olympic world stage.  In particular, those athletes who have tasted the bitterness of failure, yet they haven’t let that stop them, but it has motivated them to dig deeper in order to achieve more.

There is an Olympic commercial by Sportchek that caught my attention in regard to the power of failure to motivate your best performance.  #WhatItTakes is 1 minute and 30 seconds of brilliance…

“We hope every seat is full.
We hope you hear them cheer for everyone…but you.
We hope defeat is in your cards.
We hope your hope splinters into shards that you must handpick from the bleeding wound of your defeat.
We hope that every athlete you meet is better, more determined than you.
Because you need to be tested the same way wrong needs right.
The same way roar needs fight.
You must fight to be here.
You must pay with sacrifice,
You must disregard the price of admission,
If you want in it will cost you, it will cost you broken bones and blood.
We hope for a flash flood of fear and uncertainty,
We wish this misery upon you because it gives birth to brilliance.
There will be a moment in which everything you want becomes a singular goal.
A moment of debt when every heartbeat you own can’t pay for every breath you stole.
You must pay with the whole of you, because this is the price and these are the stakes,
You must pay for all the hurts and all the aches,
You must open your heart like a vault and pay for your pain because this…this is what it takes.”

It was this line that first caught my attention, “We hope defeat is in your cards.”

Yes, that’s right.  It’s opposition that brings out the best in us.  If we will rise to the occasion, failure is the prerequisite for success.  Failure is not defeat, it is merely delay.  We often think it’s a perfect training environment that’s the best incubator for success.  However, sometimes our best performance is only discovered through the school of hard knocks.

What is it that truly forms us?  Is it our successes, or our failures? I’m a firm believer that a leader who has never failed is a very dangerous leader.  Why?  Because they are bereft of empathy and humility.

Never follow a leader who doesn’t limp.

A limping leader is someone who has failed.  They are someone who has had to look failure in the face and declare that it will not be this that defines them.  They then discover the deeper character qualities that are the catalyst to drive them through failure and into success:  humility, fortitude, courage, conviction, commitment, determination, dedication, perseverance and the like.

A limping leader is someone who knows that leadership is costly.  There is a price to be paid by leaders, because leadership is working for the benefit of others.  Limping leaders have had to fight through their own limitations to discover their potential.  They have had to be “potentional” – they are intentional about achieving their potential.

Limping leaders through their own blood, sweat and tears have risen above their failures, and can now envision, empower and equip others to do the same.  A limping leader has the grace and humility, along with the grit and the determination, to motivate those they lead to overcome their own limitations to be their best.

If you are facing failure, do not fear, it is this very thing that can lead to your best you.  When you have demonstrated the character qualities necessary to press through failure into success, you will be a better you.  And, you will limp.

However, a limping leader is the best leader to follow.