Webb's tips for cultivating total focus

Embrace failure and adversity.

Often, setbacks are the only way you gain that invaluable insight you need to anticipate future problems and to design the perfect plan for your next move.

Don’t be afraid to pull the plug.

Contingency planning is an essential part of any mission, whether running a business or flying a plane. Inevitably something will go wrong. There are times when the smartest move is a tactical retreat.

Live every day with a single aim.

If you’re going to do something, make the effort to do it right the first time — it may be the only chance you get.

Character counts more than talent.

A solid team is too precious to let anything threaten it. A team with average ability but great chemistry will win out over a team with extreme talent but lousy chemistry.

Embrace the suck.

Obstacles are there to show how badly you want something and to force you into developing the skills and resources you need to get it. Treat every rejection as currency you can use to purchase the motivation and endurance you’ll need.

Upgrade your sphere of friends.

Whatever you want to excel at, surround yourself with examples of it, and more specifically with the best of it. Excellence comes from the company you keep.

Be 100 percent in.

When you have a half-baked plan, you can’t expect anything more than a halfbaked outcome. Choose one thing, focus on it and execute it to the absolute limit of your abilities. Learn to say no to everything else.

Earn your title every day.

This applies to any CEO, manager, entrepreneur or businessperson at any level of leadership. Don’t be seduced by the false laurels of past accomplishment. Your last deal is done and behind you. You’re only as good as you are right now, at this moment, and moving forward.

Always be ready to pivot.

When disruption happens, you can resist it, fight it, complain about it, even try to pretend it isn’t happening. Or you can embrace it and pivot. Have the courage to do things differently and take acceptable risks.

Ask for input.

The intern making the coffee may be in a position to see an answer to a question that the person sitting in the corner office hasn’t thought about. Great leaders know great ideas — winning ideas — can come from anyone and anywhere. Leaders aren’t afraid to surround themselves with people smarter than themselves.