Higher Performance Insights | The Counterintuitive Path to Personal Success

October 29, 2024
higher performance insights

What if the secret to success wasn't about you at all?

 

Bill Belichick didn't become a legendary coach by hogging the spotlight. He started by doing the work nobody else wanted to do: watching film—hours and hours of it.

 

Years later, to the surprise of few, Belichick landed himself his dream position.

 

Ryan Holiday's journey in Hollywood parallels Belichick's ascent. In a Business Insider article, Holiday recounts advice he received as an assistant: "Make other people look good." While this guidance proved valuable, Holiday later realized its wording fell short. [1]

 

In his book "Ego is the Enemy," Holiday refines this concept, introducing "The Canvas Strategy":

 

"It's not about making someone look good. It's about providing the support so that others can be good. Find canvases for other people to paint on.... Clear the path for the people above you, and you will eventually create a path for yourself." [2]

 

Here's the rub: when you're starting out, you're probably not as good as you think.

 

Your attitude needs work. And most of what you think you know is wrong.

 

But that's okay.

 

Because the Canvas Strategy isn't about you. It's about:

 

  • Giving your best ideas to your boss.
  • Connecting people who should meet up with each other.
  • Doing the tasks everyone else avoids.
  • Creating more and keeping less.

 

It's counterintuitive. It's difficult. It requires setting your ego aside.

 

But here's the magic: By clearing the path for others, you create your own.

 

Putting others before ourselves requires much from ourselves—humility, graciousness, resilience. But it’s something that delivers a return manifold, no matter where you are in your career.


Footnotes

[1] The Canvas Strategy by Ryan Holiday

[2] Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday

Team Discussion Question

How can you foster a culture where team members prioritize collective success over individual recognition, and what specific actions can your system leaders take to model and encourage this mindset?

Announcement

Help Spread the Word

If you found value in this post, we’d love your help spreading the word! Please consider sharing this on your favorite social media platform and tag Higher Performance Group and Dr. Joe Hill. Your support helps us reach and inspire more awesome people like you!

Like What You've Read?

Get practical, research-based ideas to Accelerate Higher Team Performance delivered straight to your inbox every Tuesday.

More Blog Articles

Higher Performance Insights | THE SOLUTIONARY GIFT

By HPG Info • December 29, 2025
What Your Team Actually Needs From You This Winter Break DR. JOE HILL - Founder@ Higher Performance Group Michael Mathews VP for Innovation and Technology Oral Roberts University December 27, 2025 When The Best Gift Isn't Wrapped—It's Who You're Becoming in 202 6 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Do this calculation: Your holiday appreciation budget ÷ days until it's forgotten = the cost per day of feeling valued. For most campus leaders, that's roughly $1,000 ÷ 2 days = $500 per day of "thanks." Here's the uncomfortable truth: By January 5th, those gifts are forgotten. By January 15th, your team is wondering why 2026 feels exactly like 2025. By March, your best people are updating LinkedIn profiles. Not because you didn't appreciate them in December. Because appreciation without capability is actually insulting to talented people who know they could accomplish more if you'd just fix the systems. 73% of campus leaders report their teams feel appreciated, but only 31% feel equipped to do their best work. That 42-point gap? That's where your 2026 success or struggle will be determined. You have 8 days to decide: Spend 2026 managing adequacy (pundit leader) or building significance (solutionary leader). After January 2nd, the decision is made. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ THE PATTERN THAT WILL DEFINE YOUR 2026

Higher Performance Insights | DISRUPTING THE PIPELINE

By HPG Info • December 10, 2025
Builder Insights from December's Peer-to-Peer Roundtable 2.9 million students walked away from traditional education in the last decade. Not because they hate learning. Because they discovered something educational leaders are just now admitting to each other in private Zoom rooms. Last Wednesday, a college president stood up (metaphorically—we were on Zoom, but you could feel him standing) and said something that made every superintendent in the room physically lean forward: " We have become habituated to viewing educational leadership through filters—analogous to social media platforms where individuals present curated identities disconnected from reality. Trinity Valley was profoundly guilty of this pattern—appearing to external audiences as an institution meeting mission while internally delivering bare minimum performance."  Jason Morrison, Ed. D. , President of Trinity Valley Community College in Texas, just named the thing everyone in educational leadership feels but nobody says out loud. Welcome to the Snapchat Filter Effect. Your institution looks great in the photos. The reality? That's a different story. And here's why this matters right now, today, in December 2025: 1.7 million students lost in higher education since 2014. 1.2 million departed K-12 since 2019. Combined, that's roughly the population of New Mexico—students who didn't disappear, they just opted for educational providers who weren't performing behind a filter. The market already delivered its verdict. The only question is whether educational leaders will respond with the courage this moment demands—or keep adjusting the filter settings while enrollment evaporates. Comment "FILTER" if this describes your institution right now. (I'll go first in comments. Yes, I've been guilty of this too.)
Show More