Unlock peak performance: Five leadership lessons from an elite coach

Jamil urged us to change our perspective: to act differently, we must first think differently. 

“There are two types of organizations in the future – brave or dead. It’s up to us as leaders and colleagues to choose which one we would like to be a part of.”

 

Here are his five tips for achieving excellence:

1. Achieve, don't avoid

Often, we act out of a desire to avoid loss—whether it's market share, revenue, customers, or reputation. This mindset drives you to protect what you have, leading to neutrality and protectionism. “Nothing breeds mediocrity like success,” says Jamil. It creates stewards (people hired to protect the status quo) rather than innovators—people hired to disrupt and advance. To truly excel, shift your focus from merely protecting what you have to actively seeking new opportunities. Fixating on what you might lose can actually push you further from your goals.

“People who perform at the optimum level in business and in sport are motivated by what they're seeking to create, not by what they're seeking to avoid.”

2. Think like an outsider

Break free from your usual context to challenge conventional thinking and gain fresh perspectives. Seek advice outside your immediate circle or industry. Attend conferences, read widely, and network with professionals from various fields to anticipate trends. Foster collaboration through cross-team meetings and shared projects. Encourage a range of perspectives and create a safe environment for open debate and idea exchange. Connecting previously unconnected ideas or people can unlock innovative solutions.

‘Imagine if you could take all your wisdom, knowledge, expertise, and contacts and place it all on one table so we all have access to it. How much more successful could you become? Imagine if knowledge could become a new asset class in your organization. That would be incredible.”

3. Leave your echo chamber

Regularly reassess and question your personal and organizational beliefs. Recognize that your current understanding can limit your potential. Resist filtering information through pre-existing biases and strive to see situations and people as they truly are. Embrace bold, innovative ideas and think beyond conventional boundaries. Overcoming biased perspectives can open up new possibilities and enhance performance.

“We delete, distort, filter everything. We hear all the insight and analysis and still form opinions in accordance with what we believe is true. The hardest thing is trying to convince people that the world they're experiencing is merely a reflection of their own attitude towards it.”

4. Make one degree of change

Instead of overhauling your entire approach, focus on small, incremental tweaks. For example, you might experiment with a different approach in one campaign, adjust a single metric in your analytics, or refine one aspect of your content strategy. These small adjustments, when consistently applied, can lead to significant improvements over time, making ambitious goals more achievable and less overwhelming.

“If you take two parallel lines, and you move one by one degree, it doesn't seem much at first. But there is a big difference between where you start and where you end up.”

5. Focus on strengths

Shift your focus from improving weaknesses to amplifying strengths. Recognize what you're good at and integrate these abilities into your work. If you're skilled in strategic thinking, channel your energy into planning. If public speaking is your strength, lead on presentations and allow other team members to focus on their area of expertise. This differentiation can lead to greater success and satisfaction.

“I've worked with teams before who've actually weakened a strength by trying to strengthen a weakness.”

Read the full takeaways from Rethink ABM – London.

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