Did you know that every few years throughout his career, Tiger Woods would break down and rebuild his swing? It’s true. Sometimes it was to accommodate an injury, others to fix a perceived flaw. He goes to a golf coach and has the coach re-teach him how to swing, from the ground up.
Now, no matter how you feel about Tiger Woods, he is arguably the best golfer to ever walk the links — and after his terrible car accident we hope he has the chance again. One thing is for sure, however: if there is a way to accommodate his body following the accident, he will find it. This speaks to both his courage and intentionality. Many of us subscribe to the philosophy of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” But Tiger knows that even he develops bad habits, and the swing of a 15-year-old may not serve a 35-year-old with a back injury, or perhaps a 45-year-old after a car accident. Even champions need to have the courage to ask if something isn’t working, break down their bad habits— and rebuild them to be better.
What if we all maintained such an attitude of humility? What if we all allowed ourselves to be rebuilt every few years? Can you imagine how much more we could grow? We all develop bad habits; a business leader might start making lazy decisions because it’s too much work to make the right ones. Or, even worse, that leader might run a 20-year-old company by the same rules, processes and limitations of a start up. We get comfortable with where we’re at and we let “success” lull us into believing we are perfect, infallible or always right.
I’ve heard it said that a conclusion is simply that place where one got tired of thinking. Once we figure something out, we often don’t want to grow or change.
But growth and change, a constant posture of learning and humility, is what truly makes us great. If you want to lead with greatness, have the courage to break your swing.
