CEO’s Secret Weapon: little-known tactics that fuel visionary thinking (Part 1)

Did you ever notice that certain people seem to consistently excel in business and life on a level that trumps everyone around them? It almost doesn’t matter what comes their way or what profession they are in. They relentlessly defy the odds, see solutions and opportunities invisible to everyone else and operate, day in and day out, on a whole different level than the world around them. They seem to have a near-mystical ability to survive and thrive.

When these individuals are your mentors they inspire a die-hard work ethic and devotion. When they are your colleagues, they engender deep respect and, at times, even deeper envy. And, when they are your competitors, they cultivate frustration, awe and even hatred.

I wonder what it would be like to be able to do what they do, stand in their shoes and win like they win?

“Well,” comes the instant response, “unfortunately, I wasn’t born into genius the way they were. Some peoples’ brains just work differently.” But, as we’ve seen in my recent article on Effortless Success, genetics is rarely the answer. There’s something else. Actually a number of other things.

Hard work and intensive study? Definitely part of the equation. But, still, there’s something more. Something the most-elite performers know that you don’t. A secret. Actually, three secrets. Three things they do all the time. And, honestly, many of these captains of industry, visionary entrepreneurs and creative geniuses don’t even know they’re doing them. Actually, that’s not quite true…

Many of them have figured out, through personal experience, that these practices have an astonishing impact on creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, efficiency and ability to function at peak levels through long hours and C-suite stress. But, only recently has science begun to validate the professional-impact of these practices.

Enough already, what are they?

This 3-part series will explore each of the three visionary-business success practices, share the stories and published research behind each and then provide specialized mp3 and video resources in a private subscriber-only vault that will teach and guide you through these three practices until they become habit…and you see and feel your career transform before your eyes.

(Don’t worry, I’m not selling anything, just subscribe to this blog and the link to the regularly-updated Subscriber Vault will be at the bottom of your e-mail updates or RSS-feeds later this week).

Onward, then, to the first CEO’ Secret Weapon visionary business practice. We’ll call them the three-As or the “A3” visionary business excellence strategy.

Practice #1: Get “Away”

Huh? Yes, get away. Simple fact, the greatest innovations, the boldest solutions, the most creative options come when you are not innovating, solving or creating. How is that possible?

Legendary Harvard Medical School professor, bestselling author and founder of the modern relaxation-response, Herbert Benson, explains it beautifully in his revolutionary book, The Breakout Principle, describing how a business-person puts in a seemingly gargantuan effort to solve a problem, without success, only to give in to exhaustion, walk away from the battle and, once removed, have a brilliant solution literally “come out of nowhere.”

You only need to look inside to know this works.

Reality is, though, you don’t need to hang your hat on this anecdote in order to connect with this concept. Think about your own personal processes. Trace your way back through some of your most powerful visionary moments, your greatest innovations, your best solutions. Very likely, you’ll remember working like crazy, putting in long hours, getting close, but not quite coming up with the answer.

Then, often driven by frustration, you step away, go for a walk, take a nap, hit a bucket of balls, listen to B.B. King and Stevie Ray Vaughan playing Blues at Midnight (my personal fave)…and suddenly, it hits you like a bolt of lightning. A solution that allows you to move forward and very likely continue to operate on a higher-level for some time after.

Hard work is still a critical part of the equation.

That’s not to say that hard work is unnecessary. In fact, there are two steps to this process. Before stepping “away,” you need to first invest a serious effort in discovering your breakthrough solution or creation. Struggle with it, toil with it, think of every conceivable option, permutation and invocation. Put in the time, the hours, the energy. You need to do the work first. This is where you plant the seeds.

Then, once planted and gardened with all your heart. If the answers coming aren’t at the level you need them to be. It’s time for step two—step away. Completely away. Turn off your cell-phone, blackberry and computer. Get out of your office and away from everyone who draws you back into the process. Because that is the place where magic often happens.

There is some interesting science behind this visionary practice.

Benson actually goes a giant step beyond describing the phenomenon and adds a biochemical explanation. He argues that releases or “puffs” of nitric oxide (NO), one of the body’s most powerful and ubiquitous chemical messengers, during the downtime that follows intense bouts of brain-function, are behind these superhuman bouts of innovation and creation. And, his research delivers, at the very least, strong “correlative,” if not pure “causative” proof of his theory (for more details, check out his book).

Interestingly, many ancient contemplative practices acknowledge a similar revelatory effect. Indeed, many schools of philosophy and religion teach the need to take regular breaks from day to day activities as a tool to awaken realizations and solutions.

In his book, The Diamond Cutter, which I’ve written about before, Buddhist thought leader, Geshe Michael Roach advocates taking a Circle Day once a week—a day away from work, family and any distractions—as a means of facilitating clarity and enhancing creative breakthroughs.

It always amazes me how often science ends up validating the value of simple ancient practices.

So, where does this leave us?

With a simple three-step practice. The more we honor it, the most powerful it becomes.

• Step 1 – Define the challenge/problem
• Step 2 – Work like crazy to find a solution
• Step 3 – Step away, completely away and give your brain and biology the opportunity to deliver unwitting greatness into your lap. Or, if you’re able, set aside a true Circle Day or half-day (or hour, whatever is practical with your job/life), commit to it for 90-days, and watch what unfolds.

Test it yourself!

As always, I’d never ask you to buy into anything you cannot test with your own experience.

So, now we know the first “A” in our A3 strategies. But, we still have two extraordinarily powerful practices to dive into, two more A’s. And, it only gets more impactful with more research and mp3 resources in parts 2 and 3 of this series.

Get your link to my Subscriber-Only Vault (it’s totally free, the link will be at bottom of e-mail and RSS updates after the 3rd installment goes live), where I will add in an special mp3 to go along with the second part of this series.

And, as always, I love to hear from you, so comment away below!

Update 10/15/07 - Part 2 now posted - click here to read it now!