Who is the GOAT, the Greatest of all Time? This is a question that sparks great conversations and debates between sports analysts, friends, and family members. People have an opinion and reasons why they feel a certain player, coach, general manager, announcer, commentator, etc. is the GOAT. Sometimes people become so passionate in their stance on who they believe to be the GOAT that the argument can become heated, depending on who is participating in the discussion and the individuals being discussed. Here's my question. Out of all the people, from the beginning stages to now, why are these individuals being discussed? Why are they considered to be the GOAT? Why are these individuals considered by others to be the best? I believe these individuals are being discussed because of their consistency in being the best and not becoming complacent, stagnant, and satisfied with being at the top. These GOATs understood that being the best was temporary if they did not improve, and while being the best, they continued to get better.
John Maxwell discussed this on his podcast, The Maxwell Leadership Podcast, which was released on July 8, 2020, entitled “Leadership Lessons from Michael Jordan's ‘The Last Dance’.” “The Last Dance” was a documentary series on ESPN that came out during the pandemic. This series was about the Chicago Bulls and their final stage of glory before the team broke up. In this podcast, John Maxwell presented some leadership lessons he learned from Michael Jordan in the ESPN series. Here's a portion of Maxwell's excerpt in that podcast. He states, "You see, being the best was not good enough for Michael. You know, I've been into this conversation with people before on the difference between best and better, and best is all about now, I give you 100%, right now I'm giving you 100%, everything I can in this teaching. It's my best effort, but tomorrow, I have to improve it. Best can always be improved. Best is only best for the moment. And so, my best today, my ceiling tomorrow becomes my floor or my ceiling right now, my best right now to you becomes the floor that I build on tomorrow. So, best always can be improved, and when you watch the documentary with Michael, the thing that just absolutely came home very clearly is that Michael didn't rest on the best."
As I listened to Maxwell make this point about Michael Jordan, it resonated with me as I thought about how he was not satisfied with just being the best, but worked hard to get better and remained at the top. Not only did it resonate with me, but it also inspired me, and I began to think about this principle of moving from best to better. I want to move past just doing my best by putting in the work to make today’s best be better than it was yesterday, and I want to help others do the same. This is a great concept to behold as a leader, but it becomes something even greater when we, as leaders, use our influence to help those we lead to take on the mission and the mindset to grow from best to better.
So, how do we do this as leaders, both for ourselves and for those we lead? Angela Duckworth, in her book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance (2016), talks about deliberate practice. This type of practice is intentional and complements this concept of going from best to better. In her book, she lists four requirements of deliberate practice, which are:
- A clearly defined stretch goal
- Full concentration and effort
- Immediate and informative feedback
- Repetition with reflection and refinement
These four requirements are practical steps to move from best to better. Practice definitely does not make perfect, but as my friend Harvie once told me, “Practice makes habit.” As we teach ourselves and others to build habits on those we already possess, we will move from best to better.
On May 7, 2002, during a press conference, Allen Iverson responded to reporters and asked how could he help his teammates by practicing (paraphrased). As leaders, we can demonstrate that we are not satisfied with our level of productivity and success by helping ourselves and our teammates through deliberate practice to go from best to better.
