Executive Onboarding

Executive Onboarding
superior performer. Having an ability to realize that you
are (becoming) superior at something consequently
increases your appetite to improve further, which again
often leads to intensified practice. In fact, increased
appetite to improve often is followed by an increasing
amount of success moments, thus, continuing on an
upward trajectory.
Deliberate practice makes a difference. Why are contemporary
athletes significantly more superior to their comparable
athletes 50-100 years ago? Why is the Olympic record in
different running disciplines 50 years ago equal to that of
current high school runners? The answer is not physical but
because they train themselves more effectively. In fact,
researchers found the average height of European men has
grown by 11 centimetres in just over a century (Hatton, 2013).
Yet size is no advantage in running, since each stride requires
you to lift yourself up (Colvin, 2008). In fact, the smaller you
are, the better you are. In other words, our physical
development cannot explain the improved performance in
running – quite the contrary – it is something else – most
probably deliberate practice.
However, in the corporate world, it takes more than deliberate
practice to become a high performing executive but deliberate
practice is a fundamental necessity that all executives must be
willing to employ as a prerequisite for delivering sustainable
above average performance within a given context.
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