Great Expectations

It's lonely at the top. We've heard this over and over again. Yet, this is exactly what athletes try and achieve, especially in individual sports like golf and tennis. This weekend, Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal once again won Wimbledon-perhaps the most prestigious tournament of the year.

For Nadal, he won his second straight Grand Slam event. The first being the French Open several weeks ago. In both the Open and Wimbledon, he won in straight sets. His two opponents could not muster even one set. The road to his third Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open seems paved with pretenders unless Roger Federer can mount a comeback. No one is ready to give Nadal the U.S. Open title, but prospects look bleak for his opponents. His number one ranking is in no danger today.

Serena Williams won her 10th Grand Slam singles title on Saturday easily beating 21 seeded Vera Zvonareva (who?). This was her fourth Wimbledon singles title to go along with several doubles titles with her sister Venus. She too dominated her opponent in straight set and dispatched Zvonareva in 67 minutes to retain her number one ranking. Other than her sister-who is going to challenge her?

These two great champions have much in common. They work long, solitary hours to perfect their game. They are focused on winning, even if it doesn't play well in the papers. They are fully and completely committed to being at the top of their game and don't look to relinquish that seed or title anytime soon.

Do you have great expectations for your team? Is there one person continually at the top of the scale? If so, how do you challenge them? How do you create "opponents" that will try to exploit their weaknesses and make them stronger? Are they committed to working long hours to stay at the top of their game?

Often, leaders focus on those who need the most help-the squeaky wheel at the expense of our high performers. While this makes sense, most turnover occurs with our best and brightest. Sometimes it's dollar driven, but in my experience it often is a lack of attention. As leaders, we need to figure out how to make our best better. Great leaders get the most out of all their people and get energized seeing one of their own succeed and prosper. I suggest focusing on the top 20%-the rewards for the organization will be many and the individual, countless.