I'm here in the lovely town of Vilnius in Lithuania, as part of a speaking tour (see the picture shot from my hotel room of the city square). Great culture. Excellent people. Wonderful place to visit.

Last night, our host took us to dinner after my "Lead Without a Title in Turbulent Times" presentation. We discussed Lithuania's economy. We considered what makes the best performers better. And then we spoke about sports. Turned out he's been a European karate champion.

He's a humble man but one of the secrets of his success I was able to elicit from him is that he trains more than most athletes in his field. And his commitment to preparation drives his spectacular results. But what was most interesting was that he said sometimes he'd be practicing consistently for 3 years straight with no apparent improvement. He just stays focused. Puts in the work. And stays on course.

Then one day, seemingly out of nowhere, his whole game transforms. It just leaps to a new level.

It's so easy to think that just because we're not seeing any immediate results, we're not improving. Not true. Personal change and leadership transformation happens INVISIBLY AND INCREMENTALLY. So just because you can't see your little daily shifts doesn't mean you're not progressing. And those small tiny improvements, when done with care and dedication, will lead to a remarkable shift in time. Your quantum leap.

P.S. Thanks so much to the 700 businesspeople who attended the event in Vilnius and were so open to learning about Leadership in Turbulent Times.

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