If you’ve decided to work on a really, really important goal, how do you respond to it?
Consider the story of Winston Lord, the Ambassador to China and speech writer for Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon. Kissinger asked him to write an important speech about China, Viet Nam, and Russia. Lord wrote a draft and submitted it to Kissinger.
The next morning Kissinger responded with a note on the speech that read, “Is this the best you can do?” Lord responded that maybe he could improve it and agreed to write another version. He did, only to get the same response, “Is this the best you can do?” This went on for eight versions of the speech – revision, then rejection.
When Lord received the same reaction on his ninth version, he flew into a rage. Yes, it was his best version. He couldn’t change even a single word to make it better. Kissinger looked at him and replied, nonchalantly, “Well okay, then, I guess I’ll read it.”
Kissinger knew that the stakes were high, and he expected the very best from his co-workers. He might have been more supportive, but he did get the high-quality work he needed.
When you have a meeting or an assignment that is very important to you or someone else, how much preparation do you invest in it?