The Virtue of Perseverance

June 13, 2022

Good morning!

Soon the sights, sounds, and smells of spring will come to an end as summer surely slinks its way to center stage.

Temperatures approaching 100 F are on the way.

I lost my brown fedora straw hat and would lo have it back if you find it; I know where I lost it, but someone now has a nice hat because it’s no longer where I left it.

What is it about the sudden surge of adrenaline and the feeling of euphoria when catching a fish?

• Are you an upper midwest spring forager?  (I won’t claim knowledge in other parts of the world.)
  • From first to last, as spring turns to summer, in what progressive order would you likely encounter each of the following foods?
    • asparagus — ramps — fiddleheads — nettles — cattail — dandelion greens — morels — gooseberries — columbine — mint — wood sorrel — mustard — watercress — plantain…
• Are you a James Bond fan?
  • Have you watched the latest 007 movie, No Time to Die?
  • If you haven’t — and you do — buckle in tightly and hold on to your hat; this 25th version is way different.
• What are you reading?
  • Give yourself the treat of re-reading the Powers classic, Wheat that Springeth Green (1988); pure genius.

The Virtue of Perseverance

• How about Fiddler on the Roof?  Even though the setting was in Eastern Russia, does it give you deja vus as you watch the carnage in Ukraine?
  • Thirty or more years ago we had an energetic Black Labrador who, during its adolescence, ate the better part of a couch.  This dog was the rambunctious companion for many of our children — and not so agreeably, for dozens of others in the neighborhood.  Aptly named Midnight, this hundt would often escape our yard to enthusiastically interact with others on our block and beyond; he was so filled with love he just had to share.  Sometimes a neighbor would deliver him back home having found him trampling her daisies.  Early in Midnight’s life this gentle giant developed hip dysplasia, a painful, incurable disease common to Black Labradors.  Midnight would often yelp and cry out in discomfort whenever those back hips malfunctioned, which was often.  (Reminds me of my own shoulders right now as I write to you.)  The prevailing wisdom suggested it wasn’t humane to allow the painful suffering to continue.  Other geniuses at the time proferred that it was a good experience for young children to witness the death of their pet — in the form of euthanasia.  So, the courageous and dutiful Mom of the family loaded not only the dog into the car, but several children as well, and off they went to the dog doctor clinic.  I don’t know how overt the instructions were to the children, but the kids weren’t unaware; even at very young ages they knew what was about to happen.  The children bravely sniffled and sobbed while producing sufficient tears so as to give the Mom second thoughts.  “Please, can’t we just go back home with Midnight?!”  Shortly thereafter and before doing the deed, she returned home with the same number of living dogs and humans as she had left home with just a few minutes earlier.  Funny thing about that dog, the excruciating pain must have continued throughout the next ten years, but never again did that dog yelp, cry out, or complain.  Say what you want, not only the kids knew what was happening that day, but so did Midnight.
• So, here’s the segue:
  • “The shameless refusal to quit is key.” (Eades)
    • (Last week we talked about Dukckworth’s Grit and its place in character… and now we are reminded about the virtue of perseverance.)
  • “Your success is dependent upon perseverance, not brilliance;
  • Successful performance is best explained in a simple equation:  Ability x Persistence = Performance
  • It’s often the challenge that changes us;
  • Failure is not final, failure is feedback;
  • The best leaders have a growth mindset, act urgently, yet remain exceptionally patient.”  (Eades)
    • The Without A Vision Consultancy vocabulary is, “Patience and Persistence along Parallel Paths”
• “One can’t help but be a bit cynical.
  • Leadership development is a $366 billion global industry.  In the U.S. alone, annual spending on these services is $166 billion.
  • But, very few of these issues these trainings (curricula) claim to address are ever solved.”  (Babson)
• “I’d like to meet the algorithm that thought we’d be a good match,”  as seen in The New Yorker
• Fear is a natural emotion and something we’ve all experienced at some point in our careers. While fear can sometimes motivate us to act boldly, it can also stand in the way of us achieving great things. In a recent survey, 85 percent of executives said that fear holds back innovation efforts often or always in their organizations.  (McKinsey)
  • “You had better know what is causing your fear.” (White)
• “To lead effectively in a world in constant flux, you need to build and nurture an ability to think like an entrepreneur.  This mindset helps leaders act under uncertainty while developing and facilitating opportunities to help their businesses thrive.”  (Babson Executive Education, 2022)