Organizations achieve success proportional to the want-to of the leader. That was my personal experience from 45 years of leadership in sports, military, and business. My belief was reinforced upon reading The Captain Class by Sam Walker.

When I founded TEP, I had want-to so bad that it hurt. I would outwork anyone to get the win. But I could not do it alone. I needed my corporate leaders to be driven too.

I discovered a way to their motivation by examining the source of my own. Indeed, my memoir is a treatise on the source of my motivation.

In his book, Good to Great, Jim Collins wrote that a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (“BHAG”) was key for good companies to become great companies.

Why?

I contend that a big goal portends a big win. Wins generate emotional fuel. Indeed, merely the prospect of a big win drives people to big effort. The desire to win is wired into human nature.

Winners intuitively know of this emotional fuel. For example, Michael Jordan embraced any slight, even a perceived slight, to drive him. As evidence I offer his hall of fame speech that you can find on YouTube. See his documentary, The Last Dance or read, Winning by Tim Grover.

Great leaders make speeches that generate emotions. Churchill, Patton, Lombardi, and Christian evangelists used the technique. They turn the handle that primes the emotional pump.

But the leader is the turn. As such the leader must start him or herself.

Within the week of starting TEP I called a competitor’s office at 4:00 a.m. He was a peer at my former employer. I yelled into his voicemail, “Ah, I’m gonna win!” The implication being that at four in the morning I was already working while he was sleeping.

At KCI he and I had been division managers and friendly competitors within the same team. He ran the civil engineering division while I ran structural engineering and inspections. And while our competition was good natured, admittedly, I probably enjoyed it more than he did.

Waking at 3:00 a.m. to drive to the office where I would toil alone required emotional fuel. Challenging a competitor generated that fuel.

If you would be a leader, you must generate your fuel. To get your team going, try giving them a Big Hairy Audacious Goal.

Organizations achieve success proportional to the want-to of the leader. That was my personal experience from 45 years of leadership in sports, military, and business. My belief was reinforced upon reading The Captain Class by Sam Walker.

When I founded TEP, I had want-to so bad that it hurt. I would outwork anyone to get the win. But I could not do it alone. I needed my corporate leaders to be driven too.

I discovered a way to their motivation by examining the source of my own. Indeed, my memoir is a treatise on the source of my motivation.

In his book, Good to Great, Jim Collins wrote that a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (“BHAG”) was key for good companies to become great companies.

Why?

I contend that a big goal portends a big win. Wins generate emotional fuel. Indeed, merely the prospect of a big win drives people to big effort. The desire to win is wired into human nature.

Winners intuitively know of this emotional fuel. For example, Michael Jordan embraced any slight, even a perceived slight, to drive him. As evidence I offer his hall of fame speech that you can find on YouTube. See his documentary, The Last Dance or read, Winning by Tim Grover.

Great leaders make speeches that generate emotions. Churchill, Patton, Lombardi, and Christian evangelists used the technique. They turn the handle that primes the emotional pump.

But the leader is the turn. As such the leader must start him or herself.

Within the week of starting TEP I called a competitor’s office at 4:00 a.m. He was a peer at my former employer. I yelled into his voicemail, “Ah, I’m gonna win!” The implication being that at four in the morning I was already working while he was sleeping.

At KCI he and I had been division managers and friendly competitors within the same team. He ran the civil engineering division while I ran structural engineering and inspections. And while our competition was good natured, admittedly, I probably enjoyed it more than he did.

Waking at 3:00 a.m. to drive to the office where I would toil alone required emotional fuel. Challenging a competitor generated that fuel.

If you would be a leader, you must generate your fuel. To get your team going, try giving them a Big Hairy Audacious Goal.