Nine Minutes on Monday: The Quick and Easy Way to Go From Manager to Leader

6Mountains, Not TreadmillsThe Need for Mastery

It’s not the mountains we conquer, but ourselves.

—Sir Edmund Hillary

You tend to take it for granted that when you reach out to shake someone’s hand, it will be there. The first time I met Paul, he extended his left hand, which promoted an awkward, upside down kind of handshake. It was then that I noticed the shiny prosthetic hook sticking out where his right hand should have been. Paul had lost his lower right arm while working on a garbage truck. While it would be natural to feel sorry for Paul’s loss, he thinks otherwise. Instead of a disability, Paul sees his new hook as an enhancement. So much so that if he was offered a chance to miraculously have his hand back, he would politely decline. ...