How Great Are You?

Ernie Andrus made his coast-to-coast run across the United States when he was only 90 and he is well on his way to doing it again at age 92!

In 2013 Ernie, a World War II Navy veteran, set out to break a record for the oldest man to run across America. The prior record holder was a youthful 73 and Ernie, some 17 years older, shattered the record easily.

Now at 92, Ernie is out to get his own record.

With more than 1,500 miles behind him and averaging 6.4 mile a day for the three days a week he runs, Ernie often hears the chant “U.S.A. U.S.A” from children at schools along his route.

Ok, so what does any of this have to do with you or me? And how does it fit in to a leadership/customer experience blog? In short, Ernie has vision, passion, and unrelenting hunger for mastery. He has what many business leaders lack!

I have often said that the biggest risk to success is not competition but complacency. The fire, the hunger, the need to break one’s own record, fades for many leaders. As their entrepreneurial spirit dampens and they fear losing what they have created many business owners practice defensive leadership.

So in the spirit of setting what Jim Collins would call a BHAG (big hairy audacious goal)…What is your “run across America?”

I started this blog by asking “how are you great?” Let me finish by asking how will you be even “greater” tomorrow?