Leadership Skills, Leadership Training, Development & Consulting

As the winds of change continue to stir our world, the recipe for success remains the same. The absolute highest-achieving people and teams, whether they are leaders of themselves or others, continually mix three ingredients into their secret sauce. They:

Competence describes more than just our skills and knowledge. Competence represents anything that improves our ability to perform including our knowledge, skills, relationships, resourcefulness, processes, systems and information. Building our competence builds our confidence … and confidence is a close friend to high achievers.

Building your competence is like cleaning our house. If we stop cleaning, dust collects. The need to clean never ends. In order to stick to it and achieve the success you deserve, the task of building competence also never ends. Scientist and heart surgeon Dr. Michael E. DeBakey’s life clearly illustrates this.

Often called “the father of modern cardiovascular surgery,” Dr. Michael E. DeBakey came from simple beginnings, born to immigrant parents in Lake Charles, Louisiana. As a boy, he discovered the Encyclopedia Britannica at the public library and had read every volume by the time he graduated from high school.

The noted surgeon was asked during a television interview, how he continued to operate with the dexterity required. Dr. DeBakey related how, while he was a boy, his mother taught the neighborhood girls how to crochet, knit, cut a pattern and use a sewing machine. The young Michael looked on and learned these skills himself.

After medical school, Dr. DeBakey volunteered to serve his country at the beginning of World War II. One of his suggestions led to the development of mobile army surgical hospitals or MASH units, and he also helped to establish the system of treating military personnel returning from the war, a concept that evolved into the Veterans Affairs Medical Center System.

In 1966, DeBakey performed the first successful implantation of an artificial heart, and in 1968, he supervised the first successful multi-organ transplantations, when a heart, both kidneys and a lung were transplanted from a single donor to four separate recipients.

For more than four decades, Dr. DeBakey’s work has either directly or indirectly saved thousands of lives. Now in his 90s, Dr. DeBakey continues to build his competence with a daily routine – established in his boyhood – to rise at 5 a.m., to read and to write.

Here are 10 ingredients from the most highly successful people (click here to share your secret sauce):

Build your BEST team – Buddies who Encourage Success and Truth. Choose your team wisely. Ensure each member offers the energy, truth and positive perspective you need to succeed. Connect with your BEST team, individually or as a group, on a consistent basis. Learn from them and help them – it goes both ways.
Teach to learn. Mentor and coach others whenever you can. Your teaching will deepen your own learning. As the proverb says, “When we teach others, we teach ourselves.”
Create it once, use it many times. If you know you will perform a task more than once, create a checklist, form or template to save time and improve your consistency over the long haul. No need to reinvent the wheel every time you conduct or coordinate an off-site meeting, prepare a proposal, send out a mailing, plan a new project timeline, etc. The greatest form of efficiency is maximizing the use of what currently exists before inventing something new.
Learn along the way. After you complete each task or project ask yourself, “What should I Stop, Start and Keep?” Identify those things that did not go so well (Stop), those you did not do that would have helped (Start) and those that went well (Keep). Continually improving your performance is a powerful way to build competence – it turns good to great!
A reader is a leader. Simply reading (or listening) one hour a day for two to three years will make you an authority on a topic. People look to authorities on topics to influence decisions. Why not become an authority yourself? Always keep a book or reading file with you to turn waiting time into learning time.
Ask the right questions. The fastest way to change the answers you receive – from yourself and others – is to change the questions you ask. Asking the right questions will get you better answers whether you are asking it of yourself or of others. The questions you ask will either limit or expand the possible responses. Decouvertes said, “It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.”
Don’t paint stripes on your back if you are not a zebra. Make the most of your natural gifts. Focus on building upon your strengths – your unique abilities. Then, use your resourcefulness to minimize or eliminate your weaknesses. Live in your sweet spot.
Escape from your comfort zone. Try something new, visit a new place or learn a new skill before you are forced to. Although our need for comfort makes this challenging, it is always more effective and less painful to initiate our own changes.
Be bold! Go ahead, ask a guru in the area in which you’re seeking competency for help. Most successful people in any field are pleased to help those wanting to master a specific area, particularly those who are bold enough to ask. You might soon become the guru who others seek out!
Take a step back on a regular basis to assess your progress and growth. Use your BEST team to help you be objective. Taking a step back can generate more effective forward progress.

Next time, we'll add some spice and discuss practical ways to ignite your passion.

No doubt, you have mixed experiences, skills and knowledge to create your own secret sauce... and unique successes. So click here to share your secret sauce.

Who knows, it might end up in my next book, "What's Your Secret Sauce?"

I can't wait to read about it!