Domestique Armstrong?

As my classmates and I leave school and re-enter the real world, many of us will be joining new teams and taking on new roles. We will be expected to apply what we learned in school to the goals and aspirations of a new firm. We will report to new leaders, have new collegues and some will manage new groups. In almost every case, we entered school at the top of our respective games and will now be emerging from a two year hiatus with more potential than ability. Much like an athlete emerging from retirement, we must choose to seek past glory or look to the future for new achievement. We have all changed over the past two years, but our opportunity to grow will come as we begin on our new path, and will depend on our ability to understand our circumstances and recognize our limitations as well as our abilities.

On the second page of the Sports Section in Monday’s New York Times, there was a short article about the Giro d’Italia and Lance Armstrong’s role as a support rider. The article mentions Armstrong fetching water bottles for his teammates and riding out in front in mountain stages. It is clear to most that Armstrong will not likely play the support role in July, but his willingness to re-enter the sport as a domestique on a world stage shows his capacity for self-evaluation and commitment to a long-term view of success. His teammates see his efforts as a chance for Armstrong to payback for all the support he had during his push for 7 Tour titles. I see the true spirit of a champion in his efforts and a deep respect for the meritocracy of (clean) cycling, the institution that has given him so much. Lance is once again showing the world how to accept change and grow from it rather than fighting to return to a past that is no longer reality.

Armstrong has a well-documented history of moving forward and growing in the face of adversity. However, I find his role at the Giro to be equally inspiring and to offer a much more tangible lesson in personal growth. My interpretation of the 4th verse in the I Ching tries to capture what Lance is currently teaching with his actions:

CHANGE IS PASSIVE. GROWTH IS ACTIVE. Change will occur but growth must be actively pursued. To grow you must move forward and evolve with awareness of self and of your environment. You must be observant and able to identify sources of trouble disguised by their unfamiliarity. When change causes confusion, grow by delegating responsibility and accepting help but do not neglect your duty to learn from these situations and those who help you. If you do this, you will remain sure of yourself and you will not only change, you will grow.

Lance has ridden a similar route before and I would not be surprised to see him grow into the Maillot Jaune by the time he reaches Paris this year. My hope is that my classmates and I can find inspiration in this example and make the choices that lead to growth and our own Yellow Jersey.

“DISCOVER WHAT YOU LOVE, WORK AT IT. SUCCESS WILL FOLLOW. When you are engaged in a labor of love, your efforts are extremely efficient and your natural abilities are utilized to the fullest. You are engaged by the work and the love of the product, not ego and the love of self. This confidence results in the power to lead while appearing to follow and the service and devotion of your team.”

Traditionally, the MBA is a degree that helps you mitigate risk and the process of acquiring the degree pushes you to become increasingly risk averse as the recruiting waves wash over each class. Professors have told me that every year they hear about students who are determined to “do a start-up” and “make it work” before they are “forced” to report to their job at a consulting firm or a bank. Inevitably, after calculating the expected NPV of each option, the newly minted MBA spends their signing bonus on travel and new suites not incorporation documents and rent-a-coder. This year is different because many of us do not have jobs (or the signing bonus) and are choosing between a passion project and a job search that may continue well beyond the summer. I hope most of these highly capable people are able to see the opportunity in the economy and feel the freedom of following a passion. I respect anyone who decides to pursue the most interesting thing they can imagine and I think long-term success lies in making this type of decision multiple times in a career.

It was typical for us to exchange small gifts with our partners (books, plaques and other trinkets with meaning, but little monetary value) around holidays and business achievements. At some point along the way I was given a copy of the I Ching as a token of appreciation. This book sat on a shelf in my apartment for months as I was hardly ever home and used my flights primarily for sleeping rather than reading. Upon leaving AND 1, I started a company and sepnt three years dealing with legal and other challenges that ultimately resulted in failure. In one of many moments of duress I began to read the I Ching and while I am not a believer in the hexagrams as a system of divination, I do believe the writing describes an approach that echos the lessons I learned in Asia and can serve as a framework to support better decision making in a start-up environment.

There are 64 verses in the I Ching and over the next couple months I am going to try to publish my interpretation of how each verse would have been written if it had been written for entrepreneurs. I will tag each new verse with “I Ching” and have created a sub-catagory to Launch Code called Start-Up I Ching where I will file all 64 verses as they are written.

With that, the first verse:

RESPOND. DO NOT REACT. You always have more time to make a decision than you think. Do not allow decision points to be forced upon you. When a decision is required, use your strength as a leader to create the time and space you need to gain perspective, to be thoughtful. Make a habit of consulting with people you respect and admire. Be a conscientious observer and a student of your craft. Take time to recall the advice of your mentors, to draw out your insight and evaluate your position. When you have settled on a decision, respond with confidence.