OK, so we’re not in a recession. We may get there, or we may yet avoid it. The catch phrase of the moment is “tough times.” This is apparently the current key phrase for slow growth, expensive energy and food commodities, looming inflation, and all the rest. Certainly, tough times present challenges, and can create real harship for real people. And of course, tough times also provide opportunities, for example to trim the fat, get back to the basics, make overdue corrections and adjustments, find new niches and markets, and buy low. But the real opportunity is to shift to or leverage leadership mastery, and get out of excellence once and for all.

Here are two simple facts: First, tough times are cyclical and predictable, even if their timing isn’t; they come with the territory if we are human, alive, and engaged. And second, the real question we face during tough times is this: are we going to slip into mediocrity, can we afford to endure the high costs incurred inside the excellence trap, or are we going to flourish and prosper from mastery? The ironic “gotcha” that we face in the excellecne trap defines the human condition for so many successful people.

Often, it is crises like those we face in tough times that finally force us to face the music and get on with it. If we face it proactively, mastery is ours. If not, then it’s hello high costs and hello mediocrity.

 In tough times, masterful leaders never lower expectations, but they never get rigid (or face any of the other Five Costs or Corruptions of Excellence). They never let fear take over, or confuse ego with vision or commitment. They don’t burn out from depleted effort, or unwisely rely on acumen and expertise. Instead, they face each situation head on and ask, how I can create something new, even if it’s not what I expected? How can I truly innovate? How can I come from my core (or Dynamic Essence) both to add real value and to differentiate? How can I change the game, riding the wave, regardless of the direction it takes? How can I disarm or redefine all apparent threats? And, how can I remain calm and confident while others around me retreat into fear, lowering their expectations, accepting higher costs and lower rewards, and flirting with mediocrity? If a leader has made the Five Shifts to Mastery, and is leading from his or her Dynamic Essence, they will have the answers ready, and will be ready to take decisive action.

Here’s a tip: always remember that anything that claims to tell you specifically “how to manage in tough times” is only valuable at the level of excellence, as cost of entry advice that should be heeded but not become overly-relied upon.  Ultimately, your leadership will be based on your persomal leadership mastery, and that of everyone else in your business.

Thsi weekend, I devoured Walter Isaacson’s bestselling biography of Albert Einstein. This excellent book does a great job of helping us to understand both the science and the man. While Einstein was imperfect and a bit eccentric (he hated socks), his mastery is unquestionable. There were many excellent scientists in his circle who got close relativity, but Einstein had the decisive breakthrough primarily because he had escaped from excellence. He led with energy more than with effort (although his effort was herculean), and with intention rather than mere commitment. He also went beyond proficiency and expertise to attain true expression and perspective. And, even though his strategic moves are legendary, acumen was child’s play to him; he always sought wisdom in his science and denigrated science that lacked this wisdom.

But late last night, while in the last chapters, the elements of a new equation that explains so much of Einstein’s mastery leapt off the page at me. Here it is: C+A=W>M. To have fun wth symbols, let C be curiosity, let A be awe, and let W be wonder, with M as, you guessed it, mastery.

Einstein had a boundless curiosity, but it was always accompanied by an almost religious sense of awe. He was no mere puzzler, but needed to see to the heart of things. This curiosity and awe added up to a sense of wonder, a humble and almost child-like sense of that ’something more’ that transcends the mundane. And this wonder, even more than his technical genius, his brain, or his independance, is the driving force of his mastery. He had a sense of the beauty, of the possibility, of the sublime in nature, and he saw it as both his mission and his gift to understand nature, from atom to cosmos, and be devoted to it. He saw this as an act of artistic creation. This was his Dynamic Essence. He couldn’t not follow it. He built his life around it, and achieved mastery. The results were exponentially greater than what had come before. He also enjoyed, in his reknown, legacy, and “profit,” an exponentially greater reward. And with his unfailing good humor, he demonstrated that the costs of excellence were left far behind.

What a guy.

Like millions of others, I was shocked and saddened by the sudden and tragic death of NBC News Washington bureau chief and long-time Meet the Press host Tim Russert. As I took in the coverage from his passing to his memorial, and had a chance to listen the comments of his family, friends, and colleagues, it quickly became abundantly clear that Russert had escaped from excellence and achieved mastery, in a big way. Those who knew him were not merely mouthing the appropriate pro forma testiments to his professionalism, character, and success that we’d expect in circumstances like this. This was much more. This was another level. As a way to pay tribute, and to extend his legacy by holding him up as an example of mastery, let’s take a closer look.

First, Russert was clearly excellent. He is given wide credit for his effort, proficiency, expertise, commitment, and acumen, which together  comprise the Five Virtues of Excellence. His work ethic, preperation, knowledge, savviness, determination, standards, and skill are legendary.

But Russert was more. Close associates referred to his uncanny ability to build genuine relationships, to his unflagging good humor, to his inspiring yet demanding leadership, and credited him with those rare human qualities that clearly set the great ones apart. And former GE (NBC parent) CEO Jack Welch said he made sure Russert made more money too.

Russert was a master: he manifested the Five Markers of Mastery (fearlessness, gracefullness, generativeness, effortlessness, and intuitiveness), in spades. And he clearly had shifted to the Five Pillars of Mastery: Energy (the guy never lost his enthusiasm, and loved where he was and what he did; he never seem to tire); Expression (he was his own man, followed his own path, and spoke his mind, with dignity and joy); Perspective (he saw to the issue, beyond the facts, and mantained personal and professional vision); Intention (he used soft power, a feel for the truth, and a sense of mission to stand up to anyone and ask tough but fair questions, and was able to attract the people and resources to perform at his best), and Wisdom (he never lost sight of his task, his responsibility, and as a result got the job he was born for, set the standard by which others shall be judged, and left a professional and personal legacy that will be both inspiring and hard to match). He took great joy in the success of others, and in the needs of his audience, his fellow citizens. He lived and worked from his Dynamic Essence. And he enjoyed enormous and unexpected rewards.

 Tim Russert wasn’t the coolest guy, as it is defined by the tragically hip. He wasn’t edgy, dangerous, or personally glamorous, and this by choice. He didn’t wield power brutally (even though he held great power), chase the spotlight, show off, act puffed up, or take revenge for minor slights. But it would be wrong to think that he was only about humble blocking and tackling, merely excellent, much less merely a fortunate mediocrity. That would be a terrible misreading of his modus operendi, and gladly I’ve heard no one make this mistake. Instead, the combination of ease and outcome, of low cost and high return, that we saw in Tim Russert is evidence of true Leadership Mastery.

The only outstanding question is whether Tim Russert was one of those rare people who was simply born that way. Did he ever spend much time experiencing the high costs of excellence or wasting time with the five failed strategies of excellence? I suspect not. I believe he may have been one of those few who have mastery built-in to their makeup, and whose transition from excellence to mastery is seamless, apparently either hardwired into his very nature or, perhaps, becoming part of his awareness at a very early age.

As a master, in his job, he won’t be replaced, only succeeded. 

God speed, Mr. Russert. Your legacy will include your witness to mastery for all of us.

OK, we all know by now that the US economy has evolved over the past few hundred years from agriculture, to manufacturing, to technology, and now to creativity. Apparently, even in this tech-driven era, so much technology work and innovation can be outsourced or replicated globally, that our sustainable core competitive advantage, our national Dynamic Essence, is being labeled “creativity.”

Creativity is challenging because, like math, many people think it’s a specialized skill or, worse, a talent we’re either born with or we’re not. Many people hear, “Creativity Economy,” and think, “Uh-oh, I’m in trouble. That’s not me.” Often their bosses don’t help much, simply saying, “OK people, get creative! Let’s see those ideas!” But while some people are born with an extraordinary capacity for non-linear thinking, most people can learn to be creative. And jazz masters, those masters of our own national home-grown music, can teach us a lot. In fact, if sustainable U.S. prosperity requires us to be creative, then our own jazz musicians are the first place we should look for guidance. Here’s why:

Jazz musicians improvise. They compose on the spot (innovation), play what they hear as soon as they hear it (agility), respond to thier immediate situation (market conditions), listen to what it going on around them (culture and competition), find and express thier own unique voice (branding), do it in a team setting, i.e. a band (organization), and must reach and move a listener (customer). They are walking creativity, always channeling what’s inside into something new. What they do is both extremely creative, and also not unlike what people working to succeed in a creativity economy must do. (By the way, blues, country and rock musician’s also often improvise, but they are less defined by it, and they do it in a less complex context. So let’s stick with the jazz example.).

Here’s how: The best jazz musicians, the real masters, first achieve excellence. Then they escape from excellence. (more…)