Be the Unicorn: 12 Data-Driven Habits that Separate the Best Leaders from the Rest

by William Vanderbloemen

In 2018 the world was riveted by the story of twelve Thai boys and their soccer coach who had gotten trapped in a cave at a national park. The cave flooded unexpectedly, and when authorities arrived at the entrance and saw the boys’ bikes and shoes, they knew something had gone wrong. Within hours the Thai Navy SEALs were deployed; within days the world had come to help. The Thai cave rescue was one of those rare situations in which the purpose was indisputably clear: rescue the boys. There was no gray area, no political misgivings. Countries rushed to the aid of the Thai authorities. Volunteer cave rescue divers arrived from England. For eighteen days, more than ten thousand purpose-driven people from all around the globe did what they could to support the rescue effort. Locals cooked and did laundry for the volunteers; nearby farmers agreed to have their fields flooded and crops ruined for the sake of diverting water from the cave. Classmates of the boys held vigils, prayed, and made a thousand paper cranes. Dozens of governmental agencies sent aid, top water engineers from Bangkok, and ultimately one hundred volunteer divers, who were on the scene to assist with the miraculous rescue of all thirteen people. The official in charge of the rescue mission was Narongsak Osatanakorn. At the end of the mission, he told reporters, “The mission was successful because we had power. The power of love. Everybody sent it to the thirteen.” If love isn’t the highest of purposes, I don...