The Shamrock System – Plus, Minus, and Equal
Frank Shamrock is one of the most successful mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters of all time. He was named “Fighter of the Decade” for the 1990s by the Wrestling Observer.
The Shamrock development system* is Plus, Minus, and Equal.
A three-part system:
- Plus: learn from someone with more experience than you.
- Minus: teach someone with less experience than you.
- Equal: engage and connect with someone with the same experience as you.
#1. Plus:
Ego stands between you and meaningful success. You don’t have to be humble to succeed. But humility enables the enjoyment of success.
I watch leaders during presentations. The humble are note-takers.
When “OTHERS” is a bad thing:
- Thinking OTHERS need to learn, but not you.
- Worrying about changing OTHERS, more than yourself.
- Providing coaching and training for OTHERS, not yourself.
Learning is painful for arrogance and joyful for humility.
Practice humility by having a “Plus” in your life.
#2. Minus:
The teacher learns more than the student.
The practice of listening, asking questions, and sharing insights with a mentee/student is both humbling and confidence-building.
It’s confidence-building to have someone ask a question and listen to your answer. It’s humbling to care for people and listen deeply to their concerns.
The only thing more challenging than being ignored is being respected and listened to.
#3. Equal:
An equal:
- Calls your bull shit.
- Celebrates, without envy, your success.
- Challenges your thinking.
- Provides a “with”.
You can’t go far on your own. Everyone needs a “with.”
The grease:
Humility is the grease in the Shamrock system. Arrogance blocks meaningful success.
Ego blocks success in all three areas. For example, ego blocks connection and learning because it needs to prove it’s own greatness and envies the success of others.
Which aspect of Frank Shamrock’s development system might be most useful to you right now?
*Frank Shamrock explains his system on the James Altucher Show.
Learning is painful for arrogance, wow! That hurts so much Dan! True indeed. Thanks for taking me to school so early this morning and allowing me to enjoy this lesson. Totally agree that everyone needs an equal to call them out and to enjoy your success without envy. Love those challenging lovely equals!!
P.S. I have a “keep for later” leadership freak box, this ones going in the pile. Thank you:)
Thanks Yanir. I appreciate your transparency. It’s great to be of service.
Personally, I love to hear people talking about what they’re learning. It’s one of the basic practices of humility. Plus, it helps fuel the teacher’s confidence.
It’s eye-opening how often the term “humility” shows up in discussions on Leadership. There needs to be a full-out effort to change the perception of humble from being weak, to being comfortable in your own skin — and not threatened by someone else’s expertise and success. A humble person is also more approachable — which means the learning is both embraced, and shared. Keep up the good work, Dan!.
Thanks Mary Ellen. You’re comment helps me understand humility better.
Humility is comfort with who we are. I feel the need to add, but not complacent.
Humility is strength not weakness.
Humility is being comfortable with the success of others.
Humility is opening your heart to others. Being approachable.
This is by far my most challenging: “Minus: teach someone with less experience than you.” Some with less experience are willing, able and passionate about learning and will accept help while others are not due to many different variables. Additionally as a boomer I have to learn to be more patient with the “less experienced” as they just don’t seem to have the basics and basis talents that I had coming out of college into a young career. I am beginning to believe it has a lot to do with both parental upbringing and with higher education that does not challenge the young and caves to their fragile egos. I’d be interested in hearing about what others see out there.
Thanks Roger. Yes, teaching/mentoring is a two sided experience. The saying goes, “You can’t put anything in a full cup.” My experience is that it’s easy to spot the full cups. You can ether avoid them or help them fail and see if it opens their hearts.
The one that hit home for me is “The practice of listening, asking questions, and sharing insights with a mentee/student is both humbling and confidence-building.” When we teach we tend not to listen. A saying I recall is “the person doing the most talking is the one doing the most learning.” We need to allow those we are teaching have a say as well.
Thanks Ga…. Interesting. The idea I take away is to encourage the mentee to teach others, maybe even teach the mentor in some situations.
The one who talks the most learns the most is, at first, counter intuitive.
I’ve had my own experiences with reverse mentoring and allowing for my mentor to hear from me and learn things. I would have never assumed it would be considered a good trait to have. But I understand having humility avoids the errors cause by arrogance. I will try to take more notice of the opportunities where I can have at least a plus, minus and equal relationship that’s balanced across the workplace.
Thanks Mohamed. I hope your studies at Tulane are going well.
“Humility avoids he errors caused by arrogance…” Love how you put that.
Arrogance makes assumptions. Humility tests assumptions.
Arrogance knows. Humility learns.
The Shamrock mentoring system sounds like a twist on a saying used in the medical field all the time, which is “see one, do one, teach one”. The plus, minus, and equal system adds a new dimension of engaging and connecting at the point that you interact with others at a higher level. Mentoring is a skill that definitely needs more recognition in professional development. It often seems there is an assumption that people are either innately great mentors or mediocre mentors. The truth is, there is room for professional development in this area. If anyone has ever had a great mentor, it’s likely that this greatness has been a work in progress.
There is an enormous amount of trust and loss of control when mentoring someone in the healthcare field. Starting in the “plus” stage of the system, learning from more experienced individuals is expected for years. While an exciting part of the process, this is a far easier step than the “minus” stage for most. Observing, listening, and studying are all elements of the plus or “see one” step. Of course, this stage will repeat itself many times throughout a career as new techniques and technologies are developed. It is important that true leaders be humble and open to being a life-long learner. It can be a challenge to switch from the role of mentor to mentee if one is not open to new ideas and learning.
However, it is the “minus” stage where the true skill of a great mentor arises. It takes trust, encouragement, and patience to teach someone with less skill and knowledge. In healthcare, it may not be possible to let a mentee truly “fail” at a task, but even “failure” must be met with constructive criticism, praise for the attempt, and encouragement to try again. Teaching with support and patience can make a great mentor.
The equal stage is unique outside of the traditional saying. The addition of this stage seems to allow room for growth and innovation beyond conventional learning. Maybe the saying should be “see one, do one, teach one, develop a better or new one”.