Climbing a Pyramid of Success to Reach the Top of Your Game - Are YOU There Yet?

‘Make each day your masterpiece.’ – Coach John Wooden

Feeling ‘on top of the world’ on adrenaline after a huge achievement, ranking the highest on a leader board or being praised as ‘employee of the month’ are all great moments – but are they synonymous to lasting success or merely lucky one-offs?

If Rome wasn’t built in a day and if Michelangelo’s ceiling took over four years to paint, then surely a true masterpiece requires copious amounts of time and dedication to flourish. Therefore, without meaning to take any credit away from those celebratory triumphs mentioned above, let’s not get ahead of ourselves and make sure that we lay the foundations for long-term attainment. 

Speaking of foundations, our ancient ancestors knew what they were doing when they built incredible structures without modernised tools or digital software. Whereas the Egyptians built gigantic, historical pyramids and Mexico proudly boasts an array of mesmerising pyramidal shapes, the idea of a solid base is paramount to enduring presence and unrivalled success. 

In fact, the Pyramid of the Sun, named by the Aztecs in Central America, reminds us to reach for the sky, just as Egyptian gods used pyramids to climb towards the heavens and be remembered eternally. If they could make such ingenious constructions which have stood the test of time, without the automated, intelligent systems of today – then just imagine what we’re capable of…

"Do you want to stand out and guarantee infinite success both personally and professionally?"

Success criteria may differ across industries and cultures, but the fundamental stepping-stones were coined by Coach John Wooden as the ‘Pyramid of Success’ in 1948. Wooden spent many years defining a set of useful principles which would serve as a universal tool, not limited to his sporting career, but moreover as a generic resource to make us all become our best selves and reach the highest possible potential success - especially well-suited to leadership and business.

The fifteen building blocks which ultimately lead to believing in success as a ‘peace of mind,’ range from industriousness to initiative and from skill to competitive greatness. The spectrum of positive attributes challenges one to work on their loyalty, team spirit and confidence, always keeping an eye on the prize of becoming successful in life and work, along with the ability to help others to achieve – taking the time to put Wooden’s lessons into practice, could bring about positive change for you and your company.

Using the idea of segmented S.M.A.R.T. goal setting and investing in the time and tools needed to cater for your company’s unique needs, means getting to know individuals or even nurturing successful teams on a mass scale. Devoting energy and resources to capitalise on specific performance indicators and time-sensitive targets, becomes more efficient and productive when using integrated applications to bring tracking and results under one umbrella. 

Coach Wooden also suggested that leaders should ‘have utmost concern for what’s right rather than who’s right’. That’s why traditional tools such as legacy systems, spreadsheets and blanket emails do not favour the possibility of  individuals or organisations reaching the summit of their ‘Pyramid of Success’ criteria. Delegating roles, along with truly listening to and observing what managers, staff and results are all telling you, will naturally echo the need to break down goals and the necessary parameters to achieve them. 

Does this work for vertical organisations?

Horizontal or vertical, any business can benefit from goal setting, whether targets are personalised or company-orientated, just as the ‘Success Pyramid’ can help us all to work well independently and just as effectively as part of a team. Old-fashioned protocols not only hold us back, but even hinder hypothetical success, when leaders and middle managers cannot provide the correct working processes needed to reach goals, let alone surpass them. 

With a pyramidal top to bottom structure, a vertical organisation relies on managerial expertise coming from above to filter down through company layers. Those on shop floors or carrying out field sales are no less important, as they form that solid foundation on which the rest of the organisation is built and can feel just as empowered when timely targets are possible – that’s why the ancient pyramids are still standing!

Summary

If you want to dominate your area and promote longstanding prosperity, then the secret of yoursuccess lies in innovation and progressive thinking. It’s time to revamp procedures, say no to results by text message or manual data input and say YES TO SUCCESS!

Next week, let’s walk through Wooden’s ‘Lessons in Leadership’ to bring the climb to the top within reach – see you then.