Why was that a big deal? Because it never had been done. In fact, people thought it was impossible.

But Roger set his goal, created a practice schedule (while training as a doctor), and in 1954 ran the mile in 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds. Bannister had achieved the unthinkable.

After Bannister broke the 4-minute mark, others broke it. Since 1954, more than 1,500 runners have broken the 4-minute mile; the record today is 3:43.13, held by Hicham El Guerrouj.

So many times, we decide that things cannot be done. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If we don’t believe we can do something different, we want to be right, so we have a mindset that ensures something different is never done. Bannister was told he couldn’t run a mile in less than 4 minutes. He could have accepted it, but he didn’t.

His mindset was such that he determined he could, so he did. And we can do the same. Read more.

Did you catch that? I cared enough about him to have tough conversations with him. Eventually, he said that to me. He shared that he had told his wife about one of our recent conversations, and his wife remarked, “She must care a lot about you to keep sharing ways that you can get better.”

Have you either thought about corrective actions as caring? Most of us do not. Read more.

During my first eight years in the workplace, I received an annual salary increase. While that was terrific, my raise percentage was the same as every other person in the business school. A new dean arrived and changed the model. In the following five years at that same business school, raises were given each year, but the percentages varied based on performance.

Some organizations today follow the ‘across-the-board’ increase model. For example, there are large firms that hire many college graduates every summer at the same salary (and the only variances across the country are due to cost of living considerations). So perhaps they hire everyone in the Atlanta office at a salary of $50,000. All new hires are trained and do, more or less, the same job. After a year, everyone gets the same pay increase. Performance has nothing to do with how the raises are determined. Some firms have used this model for years. Read more.

I read an article recently about a professional athlete whose career was over in his early 30s. While most of us think only about the financial implications of retirement, there are many others. He had made enough money to live comfortably without working for the rest of his life. What he realized, however, is that whether you’re 35 or 65 when you retire, there are many things to think about. Read more.

Months into the new person’s tenure, a beloved manager was visited by the new boss—she was not doing things as he expected. Even though she was an expert, he wanted to tell her how to do her job. She pushed back a bit. At the next staff meeting, with all of the managers in attendance, he demeaned her in front of her peers.

Appropriately, she went to him privately after the meeting and expressed her distress at being berated in front of her colleagues. He was dismissive of her remarks. She soon resigned.

People in the company took sides. There were those who thought he was well within his rights to have both told her what to do and, when she wasn’t willing to roll over, talk about her to her colleagues. Others were appalled at his behavior. Certainly, they agreed, he could express his desires about how she did her job, but they could not believe he made derogatory remarks about her in front of her peers.

Many in the latter group went to the employee who resigned and asked her to reconsider. She would not. A schism formed within the organization.

What went wrong? Read more.