Majoring on the Major & Minoring on the Minor

Which are major decisions, in Leadership & in Life? Which are minor ones? Not everything that comes our way is major. Sometimes things are minor. It is a big, bad mistake to major on the minor, and to minor on the major. Unfortunately that is an error which many a Leader is guilty of.

To be a Leader at the top of your game, you'll need to hone your ability to discern major & minor decisions, and to have the cool, collected calm nuanced with scorching clarity & courage to come to different conclusions & courses of actions based on the major & minor decisions which present themselves.

This morning I read an inspiring account of such a Leadership, the story of how Mr Luis Urzua kept his team of 33 trapped miners motivated and alive to survive a 70-day underground ordeal. FT writers Jude Webber & John Paul Rathbone called Luis Urzua An Underground Hero and said that it was Urzua's firm leadership & cool head which kept the 33 miners alive. I agree wholeheartedly.

Their article will show that Luis Urzua did (most to) all the right things under pressure. Not only was he cool, collected & calm under pressure; with scorching clarity & courage, he majored on the major decisions & actions and minored on the minor ones. He rationed their very limited food & water supplies, turned vehicle lights off & on to simulate night & day for his trapped miners, and led his men to keep their spirits, energies, emotions, and morale up. He was also the "last man standing" as he wanted to be, and was in fact the very last man to be rescued, to be hauled up (in that tiny capsule) from the trapped underground.

Luis Urzua not only led, he role-modelled.

This Thought-of-The-Week entry titled Majoring on the Major & Minoring on the Minor is on Luis Urzua and how he (i) led & role-modelled the important quality of being cool, collected & calm under pressure; and (ii) yet with scorching clarity & courage, majored the majors & minored the minors, (iii) to accomplish his mission of getting the 33 trapped miners rescued alive...after 70 days underground... (iv) achieving the greatest result any Leader could have achieved, and (v) presenting the greatest gift any Leader could have given, for his team of 33 trapped miners, their loved ones & the whole world watching outside... in that dire (and seemingly impossible) situation.