If You Have Thoroughbreds in Your Stable Let 'Em Run

What we achieve in life is to a large extent proportional to what we allow others to achieve. 

Thoroughbreds have a mental edge, a constant urge to reach for higher levels of achievement and an ability to get pumped for the big game. Diluting these championship characteristics because a parent, coach, or leader does not play a supportive role is tragic. 

I had a college buddy who was a fireball salesman. After graduating, my friend joined a major computer firm. He was assigned a large, underachieving territory and given a goal of doubling sales within three years. He swallowed hard to digest his budget, rolled up his sleeves, put on his go-getter attitude, and went to work. 

In less than three years he not only doubled territory sales–he increased them more than tenfold. It was a super achievement. He had an incentive package, and his production created substantial incentive income. As it turned out, too substantial! He committed the cardinal sin of making more than his boss. 

He was an exceptional salesman, and unlike many sales-types, knew himself well enough to know he was happiest when selling. Like many companies, his employer wrongly believed that good salespeople make good managers. So they offered him a management position–at decreased pay. He turned it down, asking them only to allow him to continue developing his territory. 

That wasn't acceptable to his employer. They cut his territory in half, which slashed his income by 30 percent. They dangled the carrot for him to get his income back up to its previous level (of course, then they would cut his territory again). 

Three months later he resigned and joined a start-up competitor. He has been causing his former employer fits ever since. 

Many large, non-entrepreneurial organizations have unwritten rules. One of them is-don't be too good, or you'll get penalized. Another is that you can't make more than your boss. 

The "we've got to hold the thoroughbred down" mentality isn't the sole property of larger companies. I've seen dozens of situations in smaller, supposedly entrepreneurial organizations where the owner-entrepreneur stifles achievement by rearranging territories, responsibilities and pay schedules to massage free market results. These efforts level the achievement curve, pull the overachiever down, and make the average worker look better. 

Entrepreneurial leaders do not seek to level the achievement curve. They fight policies that do. An organization can accomplish lofty goals only if able to attract achieving people who make it happen. 

If you attract talent, you can do anything. If you don't, you will accomplish much less. When you find thoroughbreds, let them run! They will win-not only for themselves but for you.