Great by Choice

02The Hidden Mindset Of A Ten Times Leader

Every great journey requires a specific type of guide, and the leaders who navigate their organizations through relentless chaos possess a highly distinct psychological profile. When we think of incredibly successful business leaders, the media often paints a picture of highly charismatic, larger-than-life visionaries who possess a magical ability to see the future. We are told to believe that these people are fearless risk-takers who make massive, bold bets based on their gut instincts. However, the data from the Great by Choice study completely shatters this popular myth. The leaders of the 10X companies—the ones who achieved spectacular, enduring success in highly unstable environments—did not fit this stereotype at all. Instead, they exhibited a unique triad of core behaviors that set them apart from the leaders of the less successful comparison companies. The first core trait of a 10X leader is what the authors call Fanatic Discipline. Discipline, in this context, does not mean simply working long hours or being a strict manager. True fanatic discipline is the absolute, unwavering commitment to a specific set of values, goals, and performance standards, regardless of the external circumstances. It is the ability to maintain extreme consistency in action. 10X leaders are fundamentally nonconformists when it comes to following the crowd. They do not care what the rest of the industry is doing, they do not care about the latest management fads, and they do not let external pressures dictate their internal standards. They set a course and they stick to it with an almost religious intensity. Think of Roald Amundsen relentlessly pushing his team forward every single day, refusing to be distracted. 10X business leaders exhibit this same trait by refusing to compromise their core principles just to make a quick profit or to appease short-term investors. The second core trait is Empirical Creativity. When faced with massive uncertainty, it is deeply human to look to others for answers or to rely on unproven theories. 10X leaders completely reject this approach. When they do not know what to do, they do not look to their competitors, and they do not rely on their own untested intuition. Instead, they look directly at the empirical evidence. They rely on direct observation, practical experimentation, and tangible evidence to figure out what actually works. They are highly creative, but their creativity is profoundly grounded in reality. They test the waters before they dive in. If a new technology or market trend appears, they do not blindly adopt it. They run small, controlled experiments to see if it yields actual results. This empirical grounding gives them the incredible confidence to make bold moves because their boldness is backed by undeniable data, not just hopeful guessing. The third and perhaps most surprising trait is Productive Paranoia. The best leaders in the world are constantly worried. They never assume that their current success is guaranteed to last, and they never believe that they are immune to failure. They maintain a highly sensitive awareness of all the things that could possibly go wrong. However, this paranoia is not a paralyzing fear; it is highly productive. They channel their anxiety into obsessive preparation. They ask themselves endless "What if?" questions. What if the economy crashes tomorrow? What if our main supplier goes bankrupt? What if a new competitor enters the market with a cheaper product? By constantly visualizing worst-case scenarios, they are able to build massive shock absorbers and contingency plans before the crisis ever hits. They manage risk with an almost obsessive attention to detail, ensuring that their organizations can survive the inevitable shocks that will come. Let us look at a real-world example to illustrate this mindset. Consider Herb Kelleher, the legendary co-founder and former CEO of Southwest Airlines. Kelleher was known for his fun-loving, flamboyant personality, but beneath that exterior was the mind of a fiercely disciplined, empirically creative, and deeply paranoid leader. While other airline executives were constantly changing their strategies, buying different types of planes, and expanding wildly into international markets, Kelleher maintained fanatic discipline. Southwest stuck to flying just one type of airplane, the Boeing 737, which kept maintenance and training costs incredibly low. They refused to adopt the hub-and-spoke model that the rest of the industry used, sticking to their empirically proven point-to-point system. And Kelleher was famously paranoid about debt and cash reserves. He insisted on keeping far more cash on hand than any other airline, constantly worrying about the next economic downturn or fuel crisis. This triad of behaviors—Fanatic Discipline, Empirical Creativity, and Productive Paranoia—operates together as a unified system. Discipline keeps you on track, creativity helps you find new solutions based on reality, and paranoia ensures you stay alive long enough to implement those solutions. If you only have discipline, you become rigid and unable to adapt. If you only have creativity, you become chaotic and unfocused. If you only have paranoia, you become paralyzed by fear. It is the combination of all three that creates the invincible engine of a 10X leader. Cultivating this mindset is not easy, as it requires overriding our natural human tendencies to follow the herd, to rely on gut feelings, and to become complacent during good times. But for those who are willing to adopt this hidden mindset, the rewards are truly extraordinary.

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