D3&t = drop everything & train:  The New Leadership Mantra 

I met Raphael Louis Viton (yep, that’s Raphael in the picture) at a 3-day deep dive TED coaching training we both participated in several years ago.  Raphael is the author of Free the Idea Monkey…to focus on what matters most! and is a global innovation practitioner who lives in Chicago.  This article he wrote and posted on LinkedIn Pulse was spot on in regard to what it takes to truly transform an organization’s culture and it’s leadership practices.  Raphael joined Becky Freemal, news anchor for WFXR, and I for a discussion about leadership innovation for a story that will air tonight on the 10pm news and for a series of podcasts that will be posted tomorrow on the Cortex Leadership YouTube Channel.

Click here for the original posting of Raphael Viton’s article.  His most recent article that builds on d3&t is here.

With his permission, I have extracted some take-a-ways below that I thought you might find helpful and motivating this week if you are planning for 2017.

“65% of US CEO’s acknowledge that the next three years will be more critical for their industries than the past 50,” according to KPMG’s 2016 CEO study.

How you arrange your day to prioritize deliberate practice will distinguish the “best from the rest” when it comes to learning new things and delivering elite performance. Drop everything that stands between you and your transformation dojo.

Most corporate Learning & Development programs are undermined by the system itself

The “system” is represented by those with the power. Sometimes even the individuals who are demanding the transformation are unaware that they are not appropriately integrating L&D into the strategy, which in the end, compromises the transformation results.

Don’t just exercise – TRAIN!

The repeated cycle of failed transformation efforts isn’t for a lack of intelligence or lack of effort. It is more often a lack of understanding around how we orient ourselves to the transformation opportunity itself. We might be putting in a lot of effort, but not necessarily our best effort.

“d3&t” – The phrase places an emotional, physical, and spiritual emphasis on refocusing and recommitting to your goals and purpose every day. There are no secrets or shortcuts for making extraordinary gains, whether we are talking about physical gains inside the gym or business transformation gains in the world of commerce.

More likely than not, your company’s L&D programs and culture efforts are unfortunately executed like a poorly planned exercise regimen – the efforts don’t actually match the planned shift. In most cases the transformation goals require training for a lifestyle change not training for a new skill. Most companies brave the transformation strategy because something is not working the way they want at the current level. They feel stuck and they want to shift to the next level. Most companies in this position (with a poorly planned exercise regimen) are lucky to get any transformation at all, much less the world-class transformation they are hoping for.

Don’t just be a better leader – be a transformation leader.

Or consciously choose not to transform.

Prioritize what needs to transform and why it matters to you. Prioritize which muscles need to be developed and in what integrated sequence – then get your reps in. Embed a deliberate practice into every day and embrace the lifestyle changes that need to be made. Be kind to yourself as you prototype your own sustainable rituals and rhythms that you can fall in love with.

Don’t just exercise & tweak the system – train.

Train like your business strategy and results depend on it. Or consciously choose not to transform.

Train like you’re truly committed to developing these new muscle groups by making irreversible lifestyle choices. Just “exercising” undermines your winning strategy. Real, integrated “training” for a transformed lifestyle, over time, amplifies your winning strategy.

Don’t just train alone – train together.

Practice not quitting – together. Or consciously choose not to transform.

Life is the dojo – life is the curriculum. There’s nothing to figure out, nothing else to go find. Drop everything that stands between you and your “dojo.”

Drop everything and train.