Winning Self-Leadership from “The Perfect Mile”
Leading Yourself Before Others
The hardest person for a leader to lead is – the leader.
If you can’t lead yourself, you won’t lead others.
Period. Game over.
Your futile efforts to influence others are a mess if you are.
We Connect with Stories of Striving
I finished “The Perfect Mile” by Neal Bascomb last weekend. It is a captivating story of self-leadership.
The book inspired me to persevere through my own failings in self-leadership.
This is a story about the sacrificial self-discipline of three runners on a quest to break the four-minute mile barrier in 1954.
They all trained rigorously while also students. The three men competed during the glory days of amateur athletics.
The most impressive participants are Roger Bannister from England and John Landy of Australia.
Bannister was, of course, the first one to break the barrier. He did it on May 6, 1954 in a time of 3:59.4.
Then, Landy beat Bannister’s time by two seconds seven weeks later.
Our Duty to Others is to First Lead Ourselves
The book’s climax features a race between Bannister and Landy in Vancouver. The contest concludes in one of track’s most iconic moments.
It is when Bannister passes Landy on his right as he looks back over his left shoulder.
One of track’s most iconic moments. Landy looks over his left shoulder while Bannister passes on the right.
These two men inspired their sport to greatness. Their influence was immeasurable.
It started with their self-leadership. From there, the two men led millions to personal growth and professional accomplishments.
If we are to lead and influence others to a greater life, we must start with leading ourselves first.