Hindsight

THE TRIBECA FLASHPOINT ACADEMY STYLE - PART TWO

Introduction

At TRIBECA FLASHPOINT ACADEMY things move so rapidly that it's sometimes wise to take a little time to reflect and re-focus our energies so that we all clearly understand why we're here, what we're trying to accomplish and what we expect (reasonably or unreasonably) from the process. Each of you has read "The TRIBECA FLASHPOINT ACADEMY Style" by now, and I believe that it's as fair and accurate a representation of what life around here is going to be as there can be. Nonetheless, some of the ideas and concepts covered had to be broadly expressed and may not be easy for everyone to apply directly to their day-to-day experience.

In this memo, I've tried to narrow the focus and deal as closely as possible with the most elusive concept of all -- what makes the leaders at TRIBECA FLASHPOINT ACADEMY tick? What drives people around here to expend such exceptional amounts of energy and to make such real sacrifices of their time and personal lives on an ongoing basis? Why does it seem to be so obvious to many of our best people that we just never compromise and that it's our obligation to push as hard and move ahead as quickly as we can each and every day?

Maybe it's that we all believe that our uncompromising performance will continue to lead to more of the successes we've had so far. One thing is clear -- no one here does it for the money. We couldn't buy -- even if we tried -- the loyalty, commitment and results that our key players demonstrate every day. So what's the goal or objective which creates so many "peak performers" at TRIBECA FLASHPOINT ACADEMY?'

As you'll see in reading on, the shortest answer seems to be that -- in the end -- each of us is doing it for ourselves. It's our own confidence, self-respect and futures on the line as well as our image of the kind of people we want to work with and to be.

Five years from now, the most important issue won't be what you've done; it'll be what you've become. As the expression goes:

WORK HARD, STICK TOGETHER,
IMPROVE EVERY DAY AND ALWAYS
ASK THE QUESTION:
HOW BADLY DO I WANT IT?

That's not always an easy question to answer. And, for some of you, it's a question that comes up on a regular basis. But the leaders at TRIBECA FLASHPOINT ACADEMY no longer even ask -- they know the answer because they live it all day long -- every single day: we want it very badly and we want it now. Here's some questions which should help each of you decide on your own answer as well as whether you've got the drive and desire to excel at TRIBECA FLASHPOINT ACADEMY.

Key Questions and Concerns

Do I really want to excel and to assume all of the burdens and responsibilities which come with being a leader?

1. Do I have enough self-discipline and desire? These qualities, far more than material motivations, will keep you moving when the going gets tough.

2. Can I make the personal investment and the necessary sacrifices of time, friends and family?

3. Can I accept the loneliness? Is acceptance by my peers and co-workers more important to me than doing my job right?

4. Can I handle the uncertainty, ambiguity and risks of advancement -- what if I fail? (P.S. At TRIBECA FLASHPOINT ACADEMY, it's no sin to try and fail -- the sin is in not trying.)

Am I willing to invest, endure and sacrifice without any assurance that all my efforts and energy will be recognized and rewarded?

1. Getting the job done (whatever it is) will require enormous amounts of energy, time, effort and commitment. The only answer to what you're willing to invest is -- whatever it takes.

2. Endurance helps convert whatever obstacles and difficulties life puts in our path into opportunities and sometimes even triumphs. We don't complain, we don't sulk -- we pick ourselves up off the floor, wipe ourselves off, and start all over again. How much can we endure? Whatever we must endure to get the job done and done right.

3. Try as we might, sometimes things don't work out as we planned - life isn't always fair, and plenty of people work hard all their lives for very little. We at TRIBECA FLASHPOINT ACADEMY have been very lucky so far, but there are no promises or guarantees. So, as we give things up, make sacrifices, and assume new responsibilities, we don't even get to ask -- much less answer -- the toughest question of all -- how long will it take? In many businesses and many careers, if the founders had known how long or how hard the journey was going to be -- they would never have started. So here again the questions are the same  -- what we're doing, how we're doing it and why – and the answers are simple: we're doing it because it's the right thing to do and the right way to do it. If our actions ever come to depend on what others think of them, we'll have lost our way.

4. A word of encouragement -- we don't miss many good people, so don't worry about being overlooked or lost in the shuffle of growth. Advancement at TRIBECA FLASHPOINT ACADEMY is based mostly on results (results now -- not in the future) and only partially on potential. Let us be the judge of your potential and spend your time and energy keeping your eye on the ball so you don't accidentally get hit in the face on your way to the future.

5. For five years, as a young lawyer, I started each day with a little promise to myself. It went something like this: "One day soon, I'll be a leader. Until then, I'll be the best follower around." Sometimes it isn't easy -- sometimes there seem to be better ways to do things -- easier paths to the same end, etc., but the discipline you develop by learning how to execute the fundamentals will aid your concentration, enable you to better focus your efforts, and provide a solid base of experience for your future growth. Don't sell it short and don't try to speed up the process -- you only end up cheating yourself. Remember that a person who chases too many rabbits usually ends up with none.

Maximizing Performance

TRIBECA FLASHPOINT ACADEMY’s success depends on receiving extra special performance from exceptional people. Not necessarily exceptional in their education, their work background or even their technical skill, but exceptional in a far more important way -- they bring meaning and the ability to grow to any job they were asked to perform. They make their work exciting, challenging, stimulating even when it isn't, because they have learned to test and measure themselves and their own performance against their personal best (not some outside standard) and, not surprisingly, the best ones become their own toughest bosses and critics. If anyone thinks our success will come from being tough on our people or our students, they're nuts. It will come from people being tough on themselves and proud of it. We don't compete with each other, and we're really already past the point of proving ourselves to outsiders -- our standards and our goals are internal -- we take on these jobs knowing they aren't easy, and we'll stand or fall on our performance. To finally become a true part of TRIBECA FLASHPOINT ACADEMY, each of you needs to conclude that there's enough meaning and value to your work (whatever it is) to make it worth the commitment and effort required to do it in a first class fashion.

At TRIBECA FLASHPOINT ACADEMY we believe that every single job is important and must be important to the people doing it. Most companies manage by their rules, procedures and structures to deprive their people of the ability to contribute and to make their jobs matter. At TRIBECA FLASHPOINT ACADEMY, we try to stay out of the way since we believe that "peak performers" aren't people with something added; rather they're people with very little of their potential taken away. They are people who find their principal motivation within themselves and who are driven by an unstoppable belief in their own worth and potential. They are self-developers whose goals are to grow to the highest levels possible -- both in their achievements at work and in the development of their human faculties.

Critical Traits and Beliefs

Look at our leaders and a few simple traits and beliefs emerge. Measure yourself against these standards, and you'll never go wrong.

1. We have a mission, we truly care about it, and we are devoted to it. We are single-minded and have an unassailable belief in the likelihood of our success. We have no preconceived limitations. We do more than expected, never less.

2. We focus our energies wholeheartedly on the job. Anything that moves us away from our objectives is discarded. People who get things done are not people who never lose their way -- they're people who know how to quickly find it again. Failing to plan and stick to the plan is the same as planning to fail.

3. We react in exactly the same way to success and failure -- we absorb the experience and apply the lessons we've learned to the next task in our continuing journey. Setbacks are information; mistakes are signs that it's time to correct our course. Changes are opportunities to be exploited and capitalized upon. We never coast -- if we're not steadily improving, we're getting worse.

4. We excel, not despite changes, but because of them -- we anticipate difficulties and seize opportunities -- we adapt and keep growing. We understand that there's never a right time to do a difficult thing and that people won't make any change that involves a sacrifice if they think they can avoid it. Our job is to educate them to the benefits of change and to lead them to improve themselves. We can sell it because we believe it ourselves.

5. We never give in to a competitor or a situation just because it initially looks impervious to our attempts to affect it. If we can make the first dent, the rest of the team and those who follow us will get the job done. When we're truly stuck, we draw on those times in the past when it looked just as bleak and remember that we just put our heads down and plowed straight ahead and somehow got through it together, and we always will.

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL

While there's almost unanimous agreement about the real success stories in any business, we hear about what it takes so often that we sometimes take it for granted. It's easy to lose sight of how important each person's performance truly is to making a great company -- but it never goes out of fashion. And it will always be the rule at TRIBECA FLASHPOINT ACADEMY -- we love the eager beavers and the tigers. They're the ones who try to do more than they're expected to. They're always reaching. And reaching out to the people they work with; trying to help them do their jobs better. That's just the way they're built -- they don't know how to do things half-way. They attack their jobs with both zeal and impatience. They hate shoddy work and mediocre people. Sometimes they challenge or break the rules -- that comes with the territory. You can always apologize, but you can never regain a lost opportunity once you've let it pass. Most of all, they get things done -- they're driven by their own goals and objectives -- no one needs to hold their hands.

What do the best of them all have in common? Here again, you've heard it before, but this time take it to heart and ask yourself how you stack up. Be honest with yourself -- things can always get better.

1. THEY LEARN ALL THE TIME. They're not too proud to take notes or ask questions. They're not so stupid that they think they'll remember everything or that someone will waste the time to repeat it for them when it really counts.

2. THEY'RE-PROACTIVE, NOT REACTIVE. They're driving toward the goals -- making things happen -- setting the agenda and controlling the situation whenever and wherever possible. They're in a hurry. They are ahead of the problems. No one waits for the other shoe to fall or the shit to hit the fan. When you're all fired up, you're that much harder to extinguish.

3. THEY LISTEN CAREFULLY AND THEY PAY ATTENTION. They make the time, even when they don't have it -- and they believe in the power of having friends in low places. Our students, our partners, and everyone else follows the basic rule: they don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. At TRIBECA FLASHPOINT ACADEMY, we care. We are continually building relationships which will assure our success.

4. THEY IMPROVE CONSTANTLY. Sometimes an inch at a time. Sometimes bit by bit. But no detail is too small -- no fix is insignificant -- every little bit helps improve the overall picture. Tiny pushes, not mighty shoves. We can't wait for miracles; we prefer the back-breaking grind of getting a little better every single day. We're never satisfied.

5. THEY'RE PROUD OF THE TEAM'S SUCCESSES. No one spends much time taking individual credit, but you'll never see prouder faces any place when someone wins a creative award, or someone else announces that we’ve completed another successful project, film or game, or TRIBECA FLASHPOINT ACADEMY reaches another milestone because everyone pitched in and worked their butts off to get there. When people ask us what we do to make things run so well, the answer's very simple. We do our best -- what else would anyone expect?

6. THEY HATE EVERY SETBACK, MISTAKE OR FAILURE. Yes, it's very personal. It's agony -- it's an insult and it makes the good times go away in a flash. We can't afford it -- we can't permit it -- we'll never accept it. No one should who believes as strongly as we do about TRIBECA FLASHPOINT ACADEMY. Everyone's work is a reflection on all of us at TRIBECA FLASHPOINT ACADEMY -- we are each other's business.

7. THEY'RE FULLY FOCUSED AND CONCENTRATE ON THE GOALS. Is what I'm doing or about to do getting us closer to where we need to be. Are we paying complete and total attention to our priorities? Eyes always on the ball. Obsessed because the little things make all the difference between success and failure. We didn't come to play -- it doesn't pay. We came to win -- that's all there is.

We're looking for the stand-outs, the exceptional performers, the obvious leaders -- they'll be rewarded. We've all come too far already to accept anything less than the best.

So a final word to the wise: if you want to be in the fast lane, be prepared to run like hell.