Even strong high-schoolers today run 4-minute miles. On the final leg of the race with less than 275 yards to go, Bannister powered through with his signature explosive kick, took the lead and won the race. The experts believed they knew the precise conditions under which the mark would fall. That’s Roger Bannister’s true legacy and lesson for all of us who see the role of leadership as doing things that haven’t been done before. “For years milers had been striving against the clock, but the elusive four minutes had always beaten them,” he notes. According to Bannister, the four-minute mile had become “rather like an Everest—a barrier that seemed to defy all attempts to break it—an awesome reminder that man’s striving might be in vain.” [2]. But throughout history, there are a handful of people like Bannister, who break the limits of what’s possible and leave a lasting legacy. When Bannister broke the mark, even his most ardent rivals breathed a sigh of relief. In business, progress does not move in straight lines. As soon as the first part of his score was announced–“three minutes…”–the crowd erupted in pandemonium. They don’t strive for perfection and avoid beating themselves up after making mistakes. The sad news of the passing of Roger Bannister, the first human being to run a four-minute mile, got me thinking about his legacy — not just as one of the great athletes of the past century, but as an innovator, a change agent, and an icon of success. His world record in the mile did not stand long, and the record continued to be lowered with increasingly controlled climatic and surface conditions, more accurate timing devices, and improvements in training and running techniques. The WPA was just one of many Great Depression relief programs created under the auspices of the Emergency Relief Appropriations Act, which Roosevelt had ...read more, On May 6, 1940, John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath. Most importantly, Bannister broke the psychological barrier that had held back the greatest runners for over a century. Unlike those with low self-efficacy, individuals with high levels of self-efficacy tend to be committed to the process of achieving their goals and yet remain unattached to the outcome. His commitment as a full-time medical student on regular hospital shifts left him with little time to practice—training was limited to a mere three weekly half-hour sessions—and lack of coaching forced him to create his own system to prepare for races. Then, just a year later, three runners broke the four-minute barrier in a single race. I recall that somewhere between 1500 to 1700 different runners have gone sub 4:00 since Banister in 1954. This was truly the Holy Grail of athletic achievement. Other runners now believed wholeheartedly that it was possible. In December 1952, Landy missed the mark on a big stage, running a time of four minutes and 2 seconds. In their book, The Power of Impossible Thinking, Yoram Wind and Colin Crook they devote an entire chapter to an assessment of Bannister’s feat, and emphasize the mindset behind it rather than the physical achievement.