Greg Salciccioli - The Enemies of Excellence: 7 Reasons Why We Sabotage Success

The Enemies of Excellence

The Enemies of Excellence

7 Reasons Why We Sabotage Success

Greg Salciccioli

CROSSROAD NEW YORK

The Crossroad Publishing Company

www.CrossroadPublishing.com

2011 by Greg Salciccioli. Foreword 2011 by Patrick Lencioni.

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The stylized crossed letter C logo is a registered trademark of The Crossroad Publishing Company. All interior grayscale art was designed for the book by Nate Salciccioli.

In continuation of our 200-year tradition of independent publishing, The Crossroad Publishing Company proudly offers a variety of books with strong, original voices and diverse perspectives. The viewpoints expressed in our books are not necessarily those of The Crossroad Publishing Company, any of its imprints or of its employees. No claims are made or responsibility assumed for any health or other benefit.

Project Management by

The Crossroad Publishing Company

John Jones

For this edition numerous people have shared their talents and ideas, and we gratefully acknowledge Greg Salciccioli, who has been most gracious during the course of our cooperation. We thank especially:

Cover design: Faceout Studio

Text design: Scribe

Proofreading: Sylke Jackson

Printing: Versa Press

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ISBN-13 Print: 978-0-8245-2626-9

ISBN-13 eBook: 978-0-8245-2631-3

Contents

This book is the result of a team effort. Many extraordinary people have contributed to not only the writing of this resource but my education and experience. I would like to acknowledge these incredibly gifted people.

First, I want to thank Matthew Kelly for his friendship, encouragement, and introduction to the Crossroad Publishing team: from Gwendolin Herder, the gracious CEO of Crossroad who believed in me and this book, to Dr. John Jones, the Editorial Director who provided sage advice and expert editing. Without John, The Enemies of Excellence would never have reached its full potential and become the valuable resource it is today. He is a gifted writer and has become a good friend. Patrick Lencioni and the Table Group team are experts in the field of leadership and management. I greatly appreciate their friendship, encouragement, and excellent guidance. Their contributions brought clarity and depth to this resource. A special thanks to my great friends Daniel Harkavy and Michael Van Skaik for their coaching and constant encouragement. I also want to thank my research assistant Lauren Ruef for investing countless hours in building the books foundation, as well as Dan and Fran Berrey for helping fund the project.

Next, I offer my sincere gratitude to my colleagues at Building Champions and Ministry Coaching International. Without your support, ideas, and passion, this book would not have been written. All of you are gifted professionals who have dedicated your lives to improving the lives of leaders around the world.

A special thanks to the leaders I have had the honor of coaching and consulting in the last decade. Your passion to pursue excellence is a constant encouragement in my life.

I want to thank Dianna, my best friend and bride as well as my amazing family, for your constant support. Each of you brings tremendous joy to my life, and I am very thankful for each of you.

Finally I give thanks to God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for all that I am.

Whenever a high profile leader or personality falls from gracebecause of drugs, alcohol, infidelity, financial mismanagement or another similar maladyits not easy to find sympathy among the general public. After all, these are famous, wealthy people were talking about, and they seem to bring on their own misery through the decisions they make. If anything, people take delight in seeing them learn painful lessons in humility.

Of course, this callousness toward high profile misery is misguided for a whole host of reasons, the most obvious of which is the collateral suffering that is inevitably mixed in with the carnage. Innocent spouses, children, friends, and employees are affected in profound ways, and even shareholders, customers, and fans can experience very real suffering as a result of a leaders destruction.

Well, as it turns out, there is another reason to feel bad when leaders set fire to their careers and their livesthose leaders are probably victims of an insidiously destructive and predictable pattern of behavior that plagues even some of the most well-intentioned people. According to Greg Salciccioli, and his theory makes a lot of sense, there is something inherent in being a person of influence that creates a likelihood of pain and self-destruction.

Greg has seen this first-hand, again and again. As a coach to leaders, hes come to recognize the signs of impending tragedy, and the dangerous tendencies which propel a leader unknowingly toward despair and misery beyond their comprehension.

This book is a wake-up call for all people who find themselves in positions of leadership and influence, and who want to preserve their families, their organizations, their self-respect, and their peace of heart and mind. The tragedy that can be avoided by heeding the advice here, and the joy that can be experienced through authentic, humble leadership, makes this a treasure.

Patrick Lencioni, president, The Table Group;
author, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Dont Play with Matches!

Dont play with matches! You could hurt yourself and burn down the house. Sounds like good advice, but to a 10-year-old boy it doesnt mean much. Hes thinking: I got it, Mom and Dad. I can handle this. Nothing bad is going to happen to me.

I wish that was true.

It was the summer of 1970, and instead of playing in the sprinklers with my buddies, I found myself in the backyard doing my chore, picking up piles of weeds. Begrudgingly, I bagged the weeds and hauled them to the front sidewalk for trash day pick-up.

Its said that necessity is the mother of invention, and in my need to play with my friends as soon as possible, I had struck upon a brilliant idea. I could burn up the weeds, one pile at a time, and my chore would be completed much faster. With this notion in my mind, I snuck into the garage and grabbed a box of matches, returning to my boring task with a renewed sense of excitement. I began with great enthusiasm, arranging a small pile of weeds, striking a match and watching the pile burn. It worked great. Then I realized that if I increased the size of the piles, the task would get done much faster!

You can guess what happened next. I made an extra-large pile of dry weeds in the center of the yard, stood back, and threw a match onto the pile. At first the flame was so small I could barely see it, but then it grew into a raging ball of fire. They flames grew so large that the pile began to ignite the other piles close to it, and soon the entire backyard was up in flames. The rubber on the soles of my shoes was melting as I frantically stomped on the consuming fire while trying to douse the weeds with a garden hose. As hard as I tried, though, it was futilethe flames continued to advance at an alarming rate.