THE THREE SKILLS OF ORDINARY GENIUS

I’m convinced that a great life is rarely built on a brilliant
flash of inspiration or profound insight. Even less often
is a remarkable life built on rare genius. Mostly, great
lives are built by ordinary people, doing ordinary things,
but doing them extraordinarily well.
Do you remember the old cliché that even the rich and
famous "put their pants on one leg at a time?" I've always
loved that insight. It gives me hope to be like my heroes!
This week I read Stephen Ambrose' biography of President
Dwight Eisenhower. "Ike" was one of the great heroes of
World War II and arguably one of our better presidents. But
he wasn't brilliant in terms of IQ. He was in the middle of
his class at West Point, and no one saw him as a unique
talent. Ambrose makes the comment that if one promotion
that eventually sent him to work in Washington had gone
differently, "the world would never have heard of Col.
Eisenhower." How true! And, in a wonderful way, how
inspiring!
Eisenhower did have three great gifts, but they were
"ordinary" gifts that we each have in abundance and that we
can leverage in our own lives.
First, he worked very, very hard. He was up early, stayed
late, immersed himself in each task until it was done right
and on time. His genius was the "ordinary genius" of
dedication, duty and discipline. I may not be able to copy
that exactly, but I can certainly learn from it. I can do
my best and appreciate the results of "out-working the
competition."
The second of Eisenhower's great gifts was his ability to
focus on things that mattered, the few things that make all
the difference! Most of us work hard. In fact, I've argued
that many of us work much too hard because our time, our
energy and our focus is on things that don’t really matter.
We "sweat the small stuff," and "major in minor things."
Ike never did that. Even those who criticized him always
acknowledged his gift for calmly assessing a situation and
spotting the leverage point that made all the difference.
For months before D-Day, June 6th 1944, he met with his
chief meteorologist every single day. He knew that guns and
ships and strategy were important, but ultimately the
invasion would depend on the weather and he wanted to
personally assess the skills of his chief forecaster. In
the end, on a stormy night with rain pelting against the
windows, he made the decision to "go" because he trusted
his weatherman. He knew he would get a 6-hour window of
clearing weather (for the D-Day invasion! A 6-hour window!)
and that was all he needed. The course of the war changed
over-night because Ike focused on the weather and knew his
meteorologists could be trusted.
Finally, Eisenhower had the gift of choosing the right
people and relying on them. He frequently refused to work
with people if they were unreliable or ineffective. He
wanted the best people around him. Notably, after giving
the order to "go" on June 5th, Ike went to bed. There was
literally nothing more for him to do! All the orders, all
the staff work, all the plans were in capable hands and his
work (for the moment) was done. He didn't try to do it all
himself. He chose good people, delegated responsibility and
trusted that the right things would be done, in the right
way, at the right time.
For me, there is great hope in this! Ike wasn't some genius
beyond my ability. To the contrary, much of his achievement
came from knowing three skills that I (or anyone) can
learn. He worked hard. He could identify the key leverage
points. He chose to work and associate with the best people
he could find, and he trusted them. I can do this, and so
can you.