“I’m nailing this role - I don’t have anything I really need to work on.”
A client said this to me recently. Now, I love hearing clients say this, because it means we get to really hit the accelerator and open up new possibilities.
And as I expected, when we dug in, it turned out she was just playing too small. Let me explain.
If you want to avoid seeing your impact stagnate, then pay attention to this article. Because:
Your impact and leadership legacy will ultimately depend on the leadership game that you are playing.
Each leadership game requires a different goal and point of focus, suggests a different identity and encourages a specific way of playing.
As we progress in our life and careers, we’ll find that we master the current game, and we’ll have a choice:
- keep playing it; or
- step up to a different game.
Nothing morally wrong with either option of course! However, if you keep playing a game you’ve mastered, then in my experience the risks are:
- you take on bigger responsibilities and bigger goals, and have to work harder and harder to achieve them (Infinity trap once again);
- or you get complacent, stay in your comfort zone, and stagnate;
In the case of my client, she was on top of all the priorities and projects on her radar. So we started to look at what was NOT on her radar, and we found a bigger and more exciting game for her to play.
If, like her, you’re serious about truly multiplying your impact then my guess is you’ll be most excited about the second option: stepping up to a different game.
The 3 Leadership Games
Here are the main three leadership games, in the order that we typically get to play them.
- Some people stop at the first.
- Some enjoy the rewards of the second, and stop there.
- A few decide to play all-out, and step into the third game.
Have a look and see where you’re currently playing, and decide where you’d like to be...
Leadership Game 1: Operations
Strong operational leaders are essential to any organisation, identifying and resolving internal issues that are limiting performance. They’re the ‘safe pairs of hands’ who can be entrusted with delivery of business targets.
You know you’re operationally minded if:
- You’re focused on hitting realistic financial metrics in the 1-12 month timeframe.
- Your attention is on improving the core processes and products of the business, in order to drive performance.
- You see yourself as a “high performer”, an expert, and a safe pair of hands. In many ways, you’re “playing not to lose”.
Leadership Game 2: Strategy
Strategic leaders are masters of the intersection of the organisation and its stakeholders. They create new capabilities needed to position the organisation for future success in the light of emerging trends.
You know you’re strategically minded if:
- You’re focused on achieving an ambitious valuation spike within the 2-5 years time frame.
- Your attention is on delivering change initiatives and acquiring new capabilities, in order to improve positioning.
- You see yourself as a “high achiever” and a driver of change. You’re “playing to win”.
Leadership Game 3: Impact
Impact leaders are committed to system-level change that goes far beyond their organisation’s immediate reach. They envision a new future where the “rules of the game” have been rewritten in a significant way.
You know you’re impact minded if:
- You’re focused on creating an ‘impossible’ legacy over a 5-100 year timeframe.
- Your attention is on disruptive innovation and championing system-level transformation, in order to create possibility.
- Your mission is so important that you’re all-in, even if you don’t succeed. You’re “playing to play”.
My own journey through the 3 leadership games
Although I’ve always been a strategic thinker, my career started in the world of strategy consulting where, ironically, operational leadership was prioritised. Hit monthly sales and delivery targets, rinse, repeat.
In the large corporate phase of my career, operational leadership served me well, and I did shift into strategic leadership, but I definitely could have had more impact by moving earlier into that second game and championing transformational change.
In building my business, I dipped into both leadership games, wearing both hats as required. But over the last couple of years I’ve found myself dissatisfied with “playing to not lose” and even “playing to win”. Hitting bigger and bigger financial goals isn’t the game for me any more.
The game now for me is impact. I’m on a mission to help the world’s top leaders create unprecedented, system-level impact and solve some of the world’s most important issues.
Now, sometimes that involves dealing with operations.
Very often it will involve thinking strategically and bringing clarity.
But there’s always a deeper game to impact: a deeper well of courage to find, a more fiery source of passion to tap into, a bigger vision to commit to.
That’s the journey I’m on, and it’s the journey I’m thrilled to support my clients with too.
What game are you playing - and how can you shift?
In a future article I’ll look at how we can move from one game to another (from operations to strategy, and from strategy to impact), what the external and internal barriers are to do that, and how we overcome that.
For now, let me leave you with two questions to ponder.
Which leadership game are you mostly playing right now? And… how would leaders playing each of these three games define the term “game-changing”?
