What is the "Wallenda Factor?¹"

The Wallenda Factor is primarily concerned with:

• Self regard relating to one's belief in their competencies, i.e., "Do I believe I can do the job?"
• One's perception of the outcome of an event.

A person’s negative perspective in these two dimensions assures that he or she believes that:

1. Success is not possible, AND
2. What is being asked of him or her can’t be produced.

On the other hand, a person’s positive perception in these two dimensions assures the person:

1. Believes in his or her ability, AND
2. Favorably views the task or project as something he or she can produce. 

Self regard is an intrinsic judgment, while the “Wallenda Factor” is an extrinsic judgment about producing an outcome.

Closer Examination Using the Scale of Perspectives Matrix

The following excerpts illustrate how Bennis and Nanus derived this matrix. These passages are taken from Leaders: The Strategies for Taking Charge, pages 70-73.

“Shortly after [Karl] Wallenda fell to his death in 1978 (traversing a 75-foot high wire in downtown San Juan, Puerto Rico), his wife, also an aerialist, discussed that fateful San Juan walk, ‘All Karl thought about for three straight months prior to it was falling. It was the first time he’d ever thought about that, and it seemed to me that he put all his energies into not falling rather than walking the tightrope.’ Mrs. Wallenda added that her husband even went so far as to personally supervise the installation of the tightrope, making certain that the guy wires were secure, ‘something he had never even thought of doing before.’

From what we learned from interviews with successful leaders, it became increasingly clear that when Karl Wallenda poured his energies into not falling rather than walking the tightrope, he was virtually destined to fail. 

…Or consider Ray Meyer – [one of the most successful coaches] in college basketball, who led DePaul University to 42 consecutive years of winning seasons. When his team dropped its first game after 29 straight home court victories, we called to see how he felt about it. His response was vintage Wallenda: ‘Great! Now I can start concentrating on winning, not on not losing.’ Meyer helped frame for us what we’re now referring to as the Wallenda factor, the capacity to embrace positive goals, to pour one’s energies into the task, not into looking behind and dredging up excuses for past events.”

¹Based on the work of Warren Bennis & Burt Nanus, Leaders: The Strategies for Taking Charge, 1985.