A Win You Share Compounds

THE GUT CHECK SERIES · Success · No. 3
One leadership question, examined. A new one every Tuesday.

Who else can attend/partner/host to extend the benefit?

I could have done the whole rewrite alone. No one to argue with on semantics or style, and I would be the unquestioned solution to the team’s problem.

The request came seemingly out of the blue. A colleague from outside my organization asked me to review the curriculum for a short joint staff officer introductory course, built for an international partner. The task was simple: review it and provide feedback.

I quickly saw that what it needed was a frame-off overhaul. Not because the proposed curriculum was bad. It was quite good, if your focus was the STAFF portion of the Joint Staff Officer Introductory Course. But the stated focus was JOINT, and the rewrite was well within my wheelhouse.

But in the moment, I remembered this question: who else can I bring along on this effort, to share in the experience and be part of the solution?

So I reached out to another colleague (we’ll call him Joe) and asked if he wanted to be part of the revision. He accepted, brought invaluable insights from a very unique perspective, and made the product even better.

The team we were supporting was so impressed that they invited Joe and me overseas to deliver the course to the partner. I had taught international students through sequential translation before; Joe never had. Joe had deployed numerous times in his career; he had never been to that country. What could easily have been a one-man show turned into a rewarding experience for both of us, because I had the presence of mind to pause and consider who else might benefit.

The instinct to do it alone is common, and it is honest arithmetic. Credit feels finite, so every name added to a success looks like a share taken out of yours. That math works for a budget. It fails for anything that grows when it is used.

A win you keep all to yourself stays small. A win you share compounds, expanding benefits beyond what any one person can even carry. I invited Joe to a curriculum review, not just a trip overseas. He came home with an experience he would not otherwise have had, one that makes him a more compelling hire, a more useful teammate, and a more interesting conversation at parties.

Gut check: what is on your desk right now that you could finish alone, with no one to argue with? Who is your Joe?

Row Well and Live.

Find your people. Request Your Invitation.

Next in the series: Comfortable Means You’ve Stopped Growing, arriving next Tuesday. The Gut Check series runs every Tuesday. See every question so far, or start at the beginning with Nobody Meets a Standard They Can’t See.