The REX Effect #4: Areté & Leadership
Leadership compounds through identity alignment to daily habits.
Motivation is a depreciating asset in many cases.
What remains is identity - how leaders see themselves and what that identity permits under pressure.
The most effective leaders don't rely on energy or inspiration overwhelmingly. They rely on standards and the habits of meeting those standards.
Reframe
This is one of the many ideas I've taken from the book Arete. Arete is an ancient word that essentially means excellence of character expressed through action.
In other words, it is living up to your highest potential - consistently.
In practice, I think for leaders it shows up quietly:
Telling the truth when it's uncomfortable
Taking ownership without theatrics
Doing the things you may not want to, and serving others when it isn't easy, every day
Personally, the book has had a big impact on me. I received it as a gift from a close family friend who was the first woman to achieve one of the highest levels of military achievement (I'm not saying what level or branch because I'm not sure what's allowed..). Since I graduated from Hamilton College in 2007, I've been developing my own type of personal operating system from a collection of readings (Extreme Ownership, Atomic Habits, Grit, a litany of startup and technology books, biographies, etc.) and Arete is the first that truly pulled it all together for me.
They have also built an app that helps you implement their system (Heroic App) and have created a network of certified coaches. The company's mission is to get 51% of planet earth living up to their full potential by the year 2050. What a profoundly awesome mission.
Operator Takeaway
I can't emphasize how much I have loved the Arete book and Heroic app. They have helped provide me with clarity on every decision I make throughout my day and build habits that I hope will enable me to be who I'm trying to be in life. It has also opened my eyes to where I was falling down as a leader. I'm someone who can be maniacally focused on goal achievement and forget that the greatest accomplishments are ultimately about the ride and the people you are on it with.
Close
Progress isn't built by heroics - it is built by identity-consistent days, stacked patiently.
Every Friday I will try to share something I have learned from implementing the system and the journey it is taking me on.
Disclaimer: I do not pretend to have it figured out, but I love the process of trying to figure it out.