The Break-away!

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Another Special Edition of the Weekend Update!

I am always excited by finding a microcosm that contains a lesson about the big world around us!

I found a blatant one in the Tour de France (TdF) today!

The TdF is a great microcosm! It is a group of 200 or so people who gather together into sub-groups (teams or companies) and combine their self-serving aspirations with the team's goals, and compete over the course of 2,000+ miles. There is easy going and hills and mountains. Every one of the conditions that they come up against has its own set of challenge.

There are hierarchies within the teams and between the teams and between the individuals between the teams! Over the course of the race, it is all about accumulation and positioning.

I could go on with volumes of writing about the parallel between the TdF's microcosm and that of our organizational struggles. I bet your mind was running wild!

What hit me today was the breakaway! For non TdF enthusiasts...breakaways happen during almost every stage of the TdF (except for time trials). A breakaway is when a rider or a small group of riders take off ahead of the pack of riders (called the peloton). The do so with the hope that they can stay ahead of the "pack" of riders and win a stage of the race.

An interesting thing about the peloton. No matter where they are in the rae, they are in control. The peloton has an advantage, because they take turns leading the race and buffeting the wind for the rest of the riders. If you watch a peloton you'll normally see a "churning" or rotation of the front riders. Everyone behind the first or second rider is actually resting and riding on their efforts.

The breakway on the other hand is on their own. If the rider is alone, his entire ride is on his effort. If it is a small group of breakaway riders, they may share the work, but the energy expended is spread across fewer people, and the real chance or winning is small.

Usually the peloton allows the breakaways to go...and they sometimes get more than 10 minutes of lead...but over the course of the race, the peloton will eat at the breakaway lead and engulf them...

It is the peloton who decides...

The breakaway people are usually young, hopeful, inexperienced riders with hope and a flawed perception of their real capability. They get crushed and learn important lessons for their breakaway...usually what they are really capable of...and the sad fact is that they seldom place in the upper 50% of the pack...which means that if they face reality, they are in the bottom of the losers!

I see this happen often in organizations too! A year or two into the race an individual will start believing that their contributions and ability are superior. They break away! Most of the time they idle ahead of the pack...the wind may be at their advantage...or the peloton (the rest of the organization) does care or needs some entertainment.

The fact of the matter...these players are usually in the "worst of the losers" part of the organization. And they peddle and peddle and make a ton of excuses for their failures in hope of holding on.

In the TdF the race committee reviews the race times of every rider and ultimately decides who will continue to race the next day. The race committee prunes the bottom (people from the lower 50%) from the race and ends the suffering. If the gap between the peloton and when you cross is big enough...you are out!

Organizations are like that too! They control who wins and who loses! They decide who stays and who goes...they can pare at any position however...they are much more arbitrary!

Breakaway people are always dealt with appropriately!

Losers hang on and often are given a couple of chances in hopes that they come to the realization of how bad they really are...companies do not like telling people the truth about themselves...and they quit!

I have watched a few breakaway riders who actually didn't deserve to be out front in the first place! They were pulled forward by a real rider...when the real rider dropped from the breakaway, the undeserving rider usually thought more of his capability than he should have and they fail miserably!

I have watched many people within organization do that too! I can run this show! Guess what...you rode on the slip stream! The minute you had to peddle for yourself...you couldn't do it! Be careful not to be one of those people...once you drop from the race for this reason...there is absolutely no getting back or regaining your reputation! THIS IS A REAL LOSER!

The breakaway is a great strategy for those who are capable and wise enough to know when to do it. Success in a breakaway can happen but it is rare. Only seasoned racers are capable of using it for success! Not underlings!

What a cool lesson to learn from this race...

What a cool lesson to learn in life...

Don't make the mistake of attempting a breakaway too soon...

The peloton will normally pull you back and embarrass you!

Enough said!