Day 36: The 0.2 Percent

A very close friend of mine is a deeply dedicated marathon runner. Today he missed his target time by 30 seconds. In his mind the 30 seconds define the race as a failure. The goal he set is so naggingly close which makes it even more frustrating. Which hill could he have run up faster, where did he spend too much time enjoying the view? Every moment of the race is now tainted by the way in which it conspired to rob him of his goal. The tiny moments, in this case 0,2%, define the whole.

Over the past almost 40 days I have met up with old friends every single day. In some cases it was the first time in 20 years that we saw each other. Yet, on every single occasion we walked straight back into the passionate and inspiring conversations we had always had. We connect back to a defining moment we shared, by which we will always be able to navigate our dialogue. What is the quality of such a defining moment, one that stays fixed for ever as the key to someone else's personality? Tragedies, divorces and deaths do not take away the magic of the defining moments that tells us who this person really is.

If you could choose 30 seconds from your life to share, 30 seconds that will give someone that quintessential insight into your being, which 30 seconds would they be? Yesterday I saw Alistair set aside a carafe of juice for the children at the party. It was not something that was expected of him. The children did not really need it but by making this effort he elevated their experience by making them feel cared for and included. This tiny gesture expressed his deep compassion and presence of mind around the wellbeing of the people around him in immaculate detail. In these small moments we often see far more than grand deliberate gestures try to conceal.

Downtown Johannesburg is littered with corporate grand gestures. Edifices that in their time aspired to being the titans of industry's defining moments. Grand works and symbolic gestures to anchor and cement their dominance on Main street. But if you looked closer I am sure you would have seen the 30 seconds that revealed the cracks in the ceiling. The way coffee was served perhaps, or who was allowed to speak during a board room meeting. As with with our attempts to divine happiness, we seem to gravitate towards exactly the wrong indicators for defining corporate character. We look at spreadsheet, org charts or even the resume's of 'talent.' But what do you look at when you are building the kind of relationship that will still be strong, productive and inspiring in 20 years' time? As with the 30 seconds of my friend's marathon, perhaps the 0,2% really does define success or failure.