Great Leaders Do What Drug Addicts Do
For my first event post, I watched a Ted Talk titled “Great Leaders Do What Drug Addicts Do.” In this talk, the speaker explains how his past of battling addiction equipped him with special leadership attributes that directly led to his success. He explains how his story is not one of stopping addiction, and then becoming successful, but is instead one of how he became successful because he was an addict. Within a week, this speaker went from fearing not reaching the age of thirty, to deciding to go entirely clean, and pursue change. His first step in doing so was seeking help, and eventually being assigned a sponsor. The speaker explains how it is precisely what his sponsor told him to do to get over his addictions that he claims he did to become successful.
His sponsors’ instructions were simple; to be authentic, commit to your goals, and do uncomfortable work. To heal through addiction, the speaker had to be honest with himself and others about how things were, never lose sight of the task at hand, and be prepared to go through difficulties. As he was successful, the speaker kept these three principles with him when going into the business world, where he started one of the first online programs for connecting with doctors. By never lying about his true strengths and weaknesses, doing uncomfortable work such as telling clients of his mistakes, and keeping sight of his goals, this man was able to become a millionaire.
This ted talk was truly interesting, and when listening I tried to think of other examples of where this method has been successful. Authenticity is certainly viewed as an asset, yet it is a shame it is not seen as more of a necessity. We associate politicians with being liars, and see this as negative, yet we do not seek out change. If more leaders were authentic, the world would benefit, but I am not certain authenticity always springs individuals into success. Either way, I hope to adopt many of these principles going forward, and found this Ted talk to be interesting and compelling.