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Are You Measuring What Truly Matters Or Settling For What Is Easy?
Why confusing the two is a recipe for regret. Plus how you can avoid it.
Dave Kline
August 17, 2023
New York Times
Read Time: 4 minutes 15 seconds
As a parent, there are a few moments when you magically line up an experience to match the apex of your child's interests.
A few years back, we managed to get our kids to Happy Potter World just as they finished devouring the books.
Note for new parents: planting realistic Hogwarts invitation scrolls of parchment in their rooms and playing owl sounds from your phone might seem like a good idea, but the come down from learning they're not a witch is pretty rough.
Flash forward a few years, and now a real magician has landed in the US:
Lionel Messi
Only a year removed from leading Argentina to victory in the World Cup, he now plays soccer for Inter Miami CF. And he's started his time in the MLS by leading the last-place team to the final of the League's Cup.
And with a ball always at her foot, our oldest daughter has never been into the beautiful game.
Tuesday night, the stars aligned, and the two of us road-tripped to Philadelphia to see the man in person.
And. He. Delivered.
What can't he do?! 🐐
Make it NINE goals in six games for Leo Messi.
— Major League Soccer (@MLS)
11:33 PM • Aug 15, 2023
Magically, our seats allowed my daughter to see that goal from over his shoulder. To see the moment as he saw it.
Her look of astonishment said what we were all thinking:
“How?”
So what does this magical moment with my daughter have to do with measuring what matters at work?
How could it be worth 28x?
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Starting October 5th, we’ll once again bring together 50 high-performing leaders from brand names like Amazon & Google and startups aspiring to join their ranks. Together, we’ll build out the eight foundational systems that drive high-performing teams.
Our previous cohort said it was worth 28 times what they paid. Where else can you get that ROI for 12 hours of your time? Please join us!
Outcomes vs. Effort
One of the first things that shocks you when you see Messi play is how much he walks.
It's not occasional. It's the majority of the time time.
Been watching Messi vids since he signed a 2yr deal to play with Paris St. Germain (up to $75m/year).
Messi is known for walking leisurely on the pitch. Many think it's to conserve energy. There's a more strategic reason and it's the epitome of "work smart, not hard."
THREAD🧵
— Trung Phan (@TrungTPhan)
3:06 PM • Aug 19, 2021
But when he turns it on, it's otherworldly. The smallest guy on the pitch has the biggest burst. Is it because he's conserved energy when others didn't? Did he lull them into losing track of him because of his lack of movement?
It's hard to know, but the outcomes he produces are second to none. And he does it despite every team knowing he's the one they need to stop.
But as a manager, how would we handle this situation?
Would we rather have a sales rep putting in the effort of 100 calls or the other who can make one and close the deal?
The answer seems obvious, but is it?
If everyone were walking the pitch, the team would likely get blown out.
What about the culture? Is allowing a double standard reasonable?
Outcomes are fickle. What if the goals stop?
And taken to its extreme, this same logic is how leaders can rationalize allowing a high-performing but toxic employee to stick around.
But treating everyone equally is a lazy leader’s cop-out.
Treat everyone fairly? Yes.
But if you optimize for perfectly equal, you settle for perfectly mediocre.
Where leaders stumble is confusing the two.
Let’s make it tangible. I often hear from executives that I coach that their feedback “isn't getting through."
When I ask them for examples, I find they drifted away from having the hard conversation about goals and into the easier one about effort.
The two reasons this happens: