“Every shortcut has a price usually greater than the reward.” – Bryant McGill, Simple Reminders: Inspiration for Living Your Best Life
The SQUIRREL
I sat at the circular table in the corner of my office reviewing the personnel file I’d spent much of the past week poring over. The officer seated across from me at the table, as we often say in the military, looked good on paper. To an unpracticed eye, the record told the story of someone who had performed exceptionally well, held the right kinds of positions, and done the things that posture someone to lead at the highest levels. But, to a practiced eye, the record told a different story.
While the performance level was still superb, the officer tended to pursue positions where the competition was light, creating an illusion of capability that simply didn’t exist. He was gaming the system, building a record of achievement by performing well in relatively easy roles. Where high potential officers advance through a series of intensely competitive positions, he learned that he could achieve the same ends without all the hard work and stress.
He was a squirrel. Squirrels are extrinsically motivated, more focused on the trappings of success than the work required to achieve them. They typically do the bare minimum required to get ahead and nothing more.
THE OWL
Days later, I sat across the same circular table reviewing the personnel file of another officer. Like the other officer, she looked good on paper. But, in her case, the papers in front of me just confirmed what I already knew: over the course of her short career, she’d performed incredibly well in the toughest jobs in the most highly competitive organizations. Even to an unpracticed eye, the record communicated loud and clear that she was a remarkable leader.
Her chosen career path had assumed a significant amount of risk, seeking out roles where the waters of the talent pool were exceptionally deep. She proved her mettle in positions where mistakes were often fatal to a young career, but the rewards were measurable. She challenged herself to learn and grow and accepted every trial along the way.
She was an owl. Owls are intrinsically motivated, more focused on the challenges that competition brings and how those challenges help them to learn and grow. They are never satisfied with the status quo and will constantly strive to do more, to do better.
WHERE THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD
Both were about 15 years into their military careers. They were intelligent, in remarkable physical condition, and had glowing evaluations in their personnel records. They served in parallel positions on my team, directing the similar efforts aimed at different time horizons. One managed day-to-day operations, the other focused on long-term initiatives. And they had both been selected to lead troops at the next level. But that’s where the comparisons ended.
While I could trust her to perform at the highest level with minimal guidance and supervision, he was marginally competent on a good day and required so much direction that I felt that I was often doing much of his job for him. Where I could delegate a task to her and know that she would see it through to the end, a similar task would have him standing in my office every day asking how to do things that anyone with his experience should have already known. Her performance was as much a reflection of her chosen path as was his.
Where she had achieved her success through hard work, tenacity, and focus, he had achieved his by gaming the system. He wasn’t breaking any rules, he was exploiting them for his own gain. He wasn’t doing anything illegal, but what he was doing was largely frowned upon. The military is supposed to be a meritocracy; he manipulated the personnel system to gain merit without truly earning it. He shortcut the system, failed to develop as a leader, and skirted the competition that challenges us to improve.
When they departed for command, I offered them both a dose of honest feedback. I knew she would find success and wished her well; her drive and passion for her chosen profession would continue to take her far. I was fairly certain that his past choices would catch up with him and urged him to surround himself with the best people and listen to them. People don’t tend to change, and neither did he. Within a year, she was just hitting stride and making her mark. During the same time, he’d been suspended, investigated, and relieved.
It’s always better to be an owl than a squirrel.
