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MAKING HEADWAY

BY RICH FARRELLY

Welcome to issue #11 of Making Headway, a monthly letter to you, with a focus on doing your best leadership work and hopefully, making some tweaks to your life. I love that you are here. If this was forwarded to you, subscribe here.

Tuesday, September 9th, 2025 

Hello Spring Chicken,

Last month I was coming to you from Sunny Queensland. This month I am back in Melbourne. Winter has exhaled, the days are inching longer, and the shadows are getter shorter. We warmed our bones, but we missed the crispness of a southern winter and people complaining about how cold it is.

The trip home took three days and it meant that this letter is a little later than usual. I could have sent this on Sunday evening, but it would not have been up to the usual gold standard you have come to expect 😜.

* * *

How was Queensland, I hear you ask? A lot of fun. Think: networking with Queensland folk (they really do seem to have sunny vibe), swapping stories with businesses, and the usual running-about that looks glamorous and sort of business-like on LinkedIn but mostly involves instant coffee.

The instant coffee - see International Dust -  was remedied by the purchase of a coffee machine - thank-you Nespresso - not sponsored.

Somewhere in the middle of it all, I found myself beamed into a leadership webinar hosted by my good friend Geoff Stewart from Western Australia Police. Topic? My leadership journey. (That phrase hurts, but I can't think of another)

Preparing for it forced me to reflect - not just on the highs and lows of my own leadership, but on the messy, brilliant, frustrating beast that leadership is in general. 

Because I can’t help myself, I decided to deliver it in a way that was a little… unexpected. You can see how it all played out here. Well worth 25 or so minutes of your time. Interestingly, Skipper and Rocket are in their bed/recliner at either side of the frame, but do not move for the entire time. Typical. Lazy sods.

Another highlight (one I got more out of than I probably thought I would) of the lengthy stay  was the Thriving Through Change Small Business Expo, thanks to the Sunshine Coast Council. A piping hot thanks to my friend Olivia Ratten for nudging me toward that little gem. Rather than rehash my thoughts here, you can peek at my LinkedIn post about it to see what you missed.

But here’s the thing that kept looping in my head while I was up north, trying to plant the Head to Head Leadership Development flag: “What comes easy, won’t last. What lasts, won’t come easy.” Like the cartoon at the top of this letter, I know miracles aren’t likely. I have to take the intentional steps into the hard and messy work of leadership to make success happen.

Sometimes it feels like a few steps forward - albeit tiny. Sometimes I do feel like a bit of a failure and question what I am doing. It's a wild ride to success - and, as Frank Costanza would say, "What the hell does that mean?"

So, it got me thinking. I talked about failure in my last letter to you, so, let's flip it and talk about success in this one.

The Logo That Took 34 Years and One Second

When Citibank merged with Travelers in 1998, Paula Scher sketched the now-iconic Citi logo on a napkin - in a second. Her team couldn’t believe it was “done so fast.” and worried that the client wouldn't pay for something created so quickly. Scher’s response: “It’s done in a second...and 34 years”

That moment wasn’t luck or magic. It was the visible tip of decades of invisible effort - thousands of hours of practice, failures, lessons, and refinement. Success often looks quick and effortless from the outside, but in truth it’s the compound interest of persistence.

When we see someone succeed quickly, it’s tempting to write it off as talent or luck. Instead, ask: What years of unseen work made this look easy? And when your own success feels slow, remember - you’re building the invisible years that will make your “napkin moment” possible.

Success Isn’t Everything, Everywhere, All at Once

I remember a little sign in an office I worked at. You’ve probably seen it too. It's a classic: “Good. Cheap. Fast. Pick two.”

Well, I couldn't find one for the flip-side, so I recently sketched the evil twin version: “Bad. Expensive. Slow. Pick two.” (Alot of projects nail all three exceptionally well and just meet expectations with the tips of the fingernails)

If this has already been done, happy to add the attribution

Here’s the thing: success is slippery because we often forget it’s really about making trade-offs.

When we don’t define success, we don’t drift toward greatness - we just drift. Bad outcomes. Bloated costs. Endless waiting.

But when we do define it? Success starts to look a lot less like juggling everything and a lot more like choosing well. Which two are you willing to pick? What’s worth your time, energy, and money?

Success isn’t about doing everything. It’s about doing the right things, on purpose.

Success ≠ happiness

Shawn Achor (author of The Happiness Advantage) flips the traditional view: happiness fuels success, not the other way around. Alot of people strive for that amazing car or big house, but once they get it they don't seem happy. Something is missing.

Success doesn’t guarantee joy, but joy can drive sustainable success.

*Shawn also does a terrific Tedx Talk. on happiness - great exercise is storytelling too.

Team vs individual success

Patrick Lencioni’s “speed of trust” idea links trust to energy and joy. When trust is up, success feels lighter and more collective. When trust is down, success is heavy, joyless, and exhausting.

When I work with teams who are considered high performing but are cooked - as in 'put in fork in us, we are done' - I often ask, "Is it really success if it leaves the team drained?"

Momentum vs milestone

Success is often seen as a destination (the big win, the big award, the KPI) vs success as momentum (small wins, progress, learning, growth).

For example, I ran my first marathon in Melbourne in 2008. The T-shirt and the medal were nice, but the real success was consistency and fitness built along the way.

Guest Post

This month I have another chat to my good friend, Paul Edwards about Success

Want more Success?

There is so much more to write on each letter I send, but I appreciate people's attention spans and other commitments. I know you would like more, so get in touch and I am happy to chat. 

I like to think we are all little cheer squads for each other in this world and our default position is that we all want each other to succeed in business and in life, so feedback and ideas are always welcome. I know it is coming from a good place. I am even open to a ‘letter to the editor’, if you are inspired to write.

Thanks for reading this far. 

Write back and let me know what breakthrough you have had after reading this letter. What thoughts you had. Just a sentence (or longer, if you like).

Write to you next month.

Rich

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