Hole-In-One Leadership™

Golf is the only sport that doesn’t have umpires or referees. You’re responsible for calling fouls on yourself. If you hit a ball that goes out of bounds by two inches, is it out of bounds, or is it still in play? You are the only one making that call, which means it all comes down to one question: What do you do when nobody’s looking?

That’s one of the things that golf has in common with leadership, which is also all about what you do when nobody’s looking. For example, if you slap a mission statement on the wall, but you don’t live by that mission when you’re alone to the same extent as when other people are in the room with you, that comes across to your team, and your mission statement becomes just a wall decoration.

The golf-based leadership metaphor also applies to how committed you are to your position as a leader. Good athletes practice until they get it right. The best athletes practice until they can’t get it wrong, which requires a whole other level of commitment. In order to be the best leader you can be, you need to be as committed to the success of your team as the golf players hitting the same shot over and over until they can’t get it wrong.

This is not to say that you have to spend all your time working, or that, with the right knowledge and skillset, you’ll always make the right decision as a leader. Even the best leaders make mistakes, just like the best athletes sometimes miss their shot. But when you have the right tools in your arsenal, and you know how to use them effectively, you can continue to take the actions that will propel you forward so you can become a hole-in-one leader.