The Hidden Rules of Leadership – The Formula to Outwit, Outplay, and Outlast
- Brainz Magazine
- Oct 22, 2025
- 8 min read
Written by Mark Krajnik, The Culture Coach
Mark Krajnik is a tenured human resources executive who brings passion and execution to every program he delivers. He is the founder of Performance Mindset Associates. He created online courses to elevate and simplify your HR needs. Mark is a thought leader around people, talent, and culture. Mark is the host of APEX-Factor PEP Talks and author of We-Centric.
Consistently high-performing leaders take pride in their daily activities. They thrive when leading by example. They are present, bring empathy, and have developed high emotional intelligence. The root cause of high performance is a strong foundation in demonstrating a positive attitude, especially in the face of adversity. Consistent work habits that drive your success, and the ability to put your words into action through unparalleled execution. As a leader, if your attitude, behaviors, and actions are consistently positive, I guarantee you will achieve positive results.
As a big Survivor fan of the CBS reality show for the past 24 years through 48 seasons, I get immersed in the sociological experiment of human behavior. With Season 49 coming in September 2025, I have developed a formula for your success based upon the Survivor principles of outwit, outplay, and outlast that apply to becoming the best leader that you can be.
The formula for unlimited success: Outwit, outplay, and outlast
P³ x A³ (M + B + C) = Sⁿ
Outwit (P³): Passion, persistence, planning
Outplay (A³): Attitude, action, achievement
Outlast (M+B+C): M – motivation, B – balance, C – courage
Sⁿ: Unlimited success
The top 9 hidden rules for leadership success
Outwit
1. Passion: Passion to constantly learn more
As a leader, your enthusiasm is transparent and seen by all every day. If you are half-hearted in delivering to your expectations, everyone becomes aware. As a leader, either by choice or chance, there is no room for apathy.
If knowledge is power, we must maintain a continual learning mindset to drive our success throughout our leadership journey. The more you know, the more confidence you will build. The more insight and data you collect, the better equipped you become to provide solutions, make decisions, and provide creative problem-solving measures.
Your thirst for knowledge and the sharing of that knowledge will differentiate you. Passion is when you’re engaged in a situation or project, and you don’t notice how much time has gone by. What are you doing when you are the happiest and most fulfilled at work? Set your professional goals to reflect the reward of doing “that” more often. Bring your passion, enthusiasm, and positivity to everything you do because it will become contagious.
2. Persistence: Be persistent, even in the face of adversity
As a leader, things do not always go as planned. New obstacles block your progress, people get in the way of timely resolution, and setbacks delay your commitments. Persistence pays. Move away from your comfort zone and try new ways to drive results.
Take risks and avoid being held hostage by fear. We rarely remember a mistake or a failure, as these instances are expected on the road towards unlimited success. Working harder and working smarter will help you achieve the short-term goals that you have set.
Being extremely persistent requires discipline and resilience. When faced with an obstacle or a setback, be flexible and adapt to your current circumstances. If your plan isn’t working, change it, but never stop being persistent and always stay the course.
3. Planning: Create a plan, lead the vision
Leaders lead by example. Without direction, even the best sea captain will veer off course. What is your daily plan? Your weekly plan? How do you communicate your plan to the team? What will you accomplish?
Write it out and spend time strategically planning for the next business day. Plan daily and make progress around the execution of your plan. At least 30 to 60 minutes of planning time is required to get the most out of each business day. Then, keep the vision in focus. Lead the vision through your daily actions, words, and behaviors.
Outplay
4. Attitude: Bring your positive mental attitude (PMA) daily
Leaders set the tone in every organization. Ben Franklin left us with the following thought, “Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you react to it.” How do you respond under pressure? What is your initial reaction when faced with disappointment or negativity? You choose, every day, which attitude you bring to the game.
Ask yourself, “Do I light up the room when I walk in? Or when I walk out?” Subscribe to The Platinum Rule by Tony Alessandra, Ph.D., and Michael J. O’Connor, Ph.D., “Treat others how they want to be treated.” Do not allow others to steal your power or your joy. Do not allow the critics to slow your progress.
Realize every situation is temporary and will soon change. You choose your attitude each day. You control how you react to every circumstance in your life. Choose wisely and consistently bring positivity to every situation you face.
5. Action: Actions always speak louder than words
Your actions and words have consequences. They either embrace and retain talent or drive higher attrition. Leaders must bring consistent and professional communication, be proficient at conflict resolution, and they must follow through on every commitment, both verbal and written. These are the foundations of strong leadership and the best way to build trust with your team.
Always do what you say you will do, as your actions always speak louder than your words. When you create a plan you believe in, work it. Execution and action are keys to bringing the best plans to life. Don’t just be satisfied with the fact that you took some time to create a plan.
I have always subscribed to the Nike motto and the State of Missouri motto, ‘Just Do It’ and ‘Show Me.’ Talk is cheap. Simply talking about your plans or ideas does nothing. Make it a common practice to review lessons learned from failures and mistakes to drive continuous improvement. Share success stories and what it took to get there.
Being proactive and ahead of the game works much better than being stuck as a crisis manager. It is always better to share your results than tell someone what you plan to do. Planning is a critical function in driving results. However, it is your ability to act and show a high degree of bias for action that will differentiate you as a leader.
6. Achievement: Write out your real goal achievement process, and work towards achievement
Leaders set expectations and inspect what they expect. A leader’s achievement is often found in the team’s accomplishments. However, leaders must set and achieve their own professional goals along the way.
The REAL (Remembered, Exciting, Accountable, Lasting) Goal Achievement process has meaning for you as a person. These are the one or two professional objectives that you set for yourself that you have an unbridled passion to achieve. Were you aware that most goals that are set are never realized? You may wonder why this is the case.
The primary reasons that goals are left unsatisfied are twofold. First, you forget. They sounded good at the time, but other priorities garnered your attention. Secondly, there is no accountability present to assist you on your REAL Goal Achievement journey. When you have no support and must solely rely on your own discipline and motivation, you can become easily distracted and often will veer off course.
Your professional goals must have excitement and passion behind them to elevate the journey. And there must be a lasting impact on you, your family, and/or your career. Utilizing the PMA REAL Goal Achievement Method, you are required to establish an accountability partner or accountability team to keep you on track to achievement.
Writing your top one or two goals down, reviewing them until memorized, and being held accountable to achieve them will provide the right environment to achieve new heights and take your career or business to the next level. This provides the opportunity to share your achievements with your inner circle every chance you get.
Outlast
7. Motivation: Stay motivated through the tough days
Leaders are expected to provide motivation, inspiration, and direction. However, leaders, above all others in an organization, must find ways to stay motivated each day to perform at their best. What drives you to achieve success? You must identify what drives you towards success.
Start by writing out your definition of success. Create a dream board and have it prominently displayed in your workspace if you are a visual learner. Pictures of what you get when you hit a certain milestone. Stay focused on the prize.
Know your limitations, what drives you, what motivates you, what positive attributes you have to offer, what areas you need support or training around, and what you enjoy. A daily mantra or positive affirmation can help and is a great way to start each day. The journey can be long and difficult. It’s how you respond in the face of adversity that sets you apart. Dig deep and use that self-motivation for achievement to push through the tough days. Strive for greatness each day.
8. Balance: Find your perfect balance
You can’t be everything to everyone. It’s 'ok' to say ‘no.’ Balance in life is a gift that you give to yourself. Leaders are often tasked with more projects to accomplish than time permits. This leads to an imbalance between what they enjoy and what they are required to do.
Find where your effort and focus need to be to keep progress toward your professional goal in focus. Subscribe to the “be where you are” mentality of life. When you are with family or friends, be there. When you are at work, be there.
Focus on the task at hand, plan time to accomplish the items that need your attention, garner the resources needed to make progress, and make it happen through disciplined actions. My recommendation to get the best daily results is to work in blocks of time, no more than 90 minutes each, then take a short break to rebalance. Use delegation as a tool to both save your time and promote inclusion and growth amongst your team. Finding your perfect balance provides peace of mind, reduces stress, and keeps you energized for each new day.
9. Courage: Find the courage to never quit
Leaders are present and often in the spotlight. They are often pushed out of their comfort zone. Put yourself out there and display the courage necessary to strive for excellence in all that you do. Take pride in your work and keep moving forward each day.
Each day, we either allow ourselves to get worse or we strive to get better. We never stay the same. Do you have the courage to get better each day, even when things aren’t going your way? Always remember, the only time success comes before work is in the dictionary. Courage allows you to maintain poise in chaos.
Courage allows you to take risks and move away from your comfort zone. Courage leads to resilience and calculated risk-taking. Will this become a defining moment for your career? If you find courage deep inside, it certainly can be.
These nine hidden rules of leadership will allow you to grow as a leader, lead by example, and achieve your professional goals throughout your career. Each day is a battle to outwit, outplay, and outlast your competition. A bit different from Survivor, as there is not only one sole survivor. Each of you can win as leaders through perfecting these nine key behavioral traits throughout your career.
Read more from Mark Krajnik
Mark Krajnik, The Culture Coach
Mark Krajnik, LSSGB, CPC, The Culture Coach, is the founder of Performance Mindset Associates and has been a leader around people, talent, and culture for three decades. Mark is a talented Executive Coach, Mastermind Mentor, and Motivational Speaker who offers CHRO services to startups and SMBs. He is passionate about professional development, building high-performing work teams, creating retention-based cultures, and driving career development globally. He brings his focus on performance, execution, collaboration, creative problem-solving, and professional goal achievement to his worldwide audience. He writes about work culture, leadership development, and performance mindset. Mark is masterful at helping organizations unlock human potential.
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