The first Egyptian step pyramids were single-layer tombs called Mastabas. Builders began stacking smaller Mastabas on top of each other to make a grander monument for their rulers. Step pyramids were built like a staircase, serving as a symbolic pathway to the heavens and to provide structural stability.
The Step Pyramid, also known as the Pyramid of Djoser, is considered the oldest pyramid in Egypt. Built during Egypt’s Third Dynasty, it was designed by the famous royal architect, Imhotep, who is credited with pioneering large-scale stone architecture. The Step Pyramid features a unique six-tier, four-sided shape, rising 203 feet and spanning roughly 3.2 acres.
It’s Big.
The second-tallest and second-largest of the ancient Egyptian pyramids is the tomb of the pharaoh Khafre. Pyramid of Khafre. With a volume of more than 2.2 million cubic meters and rising 471 feet, this ancient pyramid was constructed on the Giza plateau, near the Great Pyramid. Khafre built his pyramid on a layer of bedrock 33 feet higher than his father’s pyramid, giving it the visual impression of being taller.
The base of the Pyramid of Khafre spans more than 706 feet, required more than 1.9 million stones, and took more than 20 years to complete.
It’s Bigger.
Standing 481 feet tall and spanning 592,000 square feet at its base, the Great Pyramid of Giza is the only surviving one of the 7 Great Wonders of the Ancient World. The footprint extends for 13 acres, roughly the size of 10 football fields. With a volume of more than 2.6 million cubic meters and a weight exceeding 6 million tons, the Khufu’s Pyramid utilized more than 2.4 million blocks, quarried and painstakingly stacked over a period of 26 years.
The square base of the Great Pyramid aligns almost perfectly with the four cardinal directions: north, south, east, and west, with a deviation of less than 7/100th degrees. This is a level of precision that rivals anything in modern history, achieved without the use of modern technology, electricity, or magnetic compasses.
For more than 3800 years, the Great Pyramid stood as the world’s tallest man-made structure. The 525-foot Lincoln Cathedral in England, with the completion of its central spire in 1311 AD, was the first man-made structure to exceed its height.
When it comes to Egyptian pyramids, it’s the Biggest.
What’s unique about each of these massive structures is that each of them began as a thought or an idea. These pharaohs and their builders used their imagination to envision something that had never been created, put their ideas on paper, and then set out to bring them into their physical manifestation. Today, their imagination remains on display.
Leaders don’t accomplish big things because they have big resources. They accomplish big things because they first developed big thinking.
The Size of Your Thinking Determines the Size of Your Future.
What is the biggest thing you’ve ever envisioned? I’m not talking about what you’ve accomplished, but what you ever thought or wondered might be possible. Was it a big idea? Was it a bigger idea? Or was it the biggest idea you could ever imagine?
Sadly, most people stop dreaming long before they stop living.
One of my favorite books on Big Thinking is Dr. David Schwartz’s classic, “The Magic of Thinking Big.” The main point Dr. Schwartz makes in this book is that your success in life is determined by three things. First, the size of your thinking. Second, your belief in yourself. And third, your willingness to take bold action rather than relying on innate talent or luck.
Dr. Schwartz goes on to highlight the four primary excuses people make that limit their success: health (I don’t feel well enough), intelligence (I’m not smart enough), age (I’m too young or too old), and luck (I’m just not lucky). The lies we tell ourselves become the truths we believe, and only hold us back from rising to our full potential.
Remember, as you think, you say, do, and become. If you only think small thoughts, you only see yourself capable of saying and doing small things.
Far too many leaders limit their goals to what they believe is available. They base their belief on their past experience, prior wins, prior losses, current resources, the economic outlook, and their current people and identity. As a result, they are anchored to the past and only thinking about the present. They aren’t engaging in forward, visionary thinking.
They aren’t thinking BIG.
Anchors keep ships safe, but an anchor never discovers a New World.
Too many leaders remain anchored to yesterday’s successes and failures. They allow yesterday’s methods to dictate how they show up today. And they use yesterday’s assumptions as a basis for doing more of the same today. It’s no wonder they struggle to think BIGGER, because they’re stuck in the thinking of the past.
Khufu didn’t build his pyramid to protect the past. He built his pyramid so he could ascend to the stars and become a living God. He thought about what was next. Khufu, Khafre, and all the other pharaohs who built elaborate pyramids and tombs were imagining something BIGGER for tomorrow.
And they built accordingly.
Leaders don’t see the world as it is. They see the world as it could be. Thomas Edison imagined a world illuminated by incandescent light powered by electricity. Henry Ford envisioned a world where a motorized vehicle could transport people and equipment more efficiently than a horse-drawn wagon. Jonas Salk dreamed of a world where children were no longer stricken by the crippling effects of polio.
They dreamed BIG.
John Kennedy imagined a world where men walked on the moon. NASA acted on that dream, making it happen in 1969. John Blankenburger envisioned a world with a computer on every desk, creating the first commercially available personal computer, the Kenbak-1, in 1971. Martin Cooper, an engineer at Motorola, imagined a world where telephones were cordless. He introduced the DynaTAC handheld cell phone in 1973.
They dreamed BIGGER.
Building on the pioneering work of James McEwen, Geof Auchinleck, and Dr. Brian Day, Intuitive Surgical introduced the da Vinci System, revolutionizing robotic surgery. Sam Altman built upon the groundbreaking idea of artificial intelligence espoused by John McCarthy, Alan Turing, and Marvin Minsky in the 1950s, launching ChatGPT in November, 2022. Elon Musk built upon the successes of the NASA space program, launching SpaceX in 2006 and Starlink in 2019.
They dreamed even BIGGER.
Each of these visionary leaders went beyond “What Is” to consider “What If?” But they went one step further and asked an even more consequential question: “Why not?”
For more than a decade, Gilligan’s Island brought us the continual saga of a group of tourists who were caught in a storm, driven off course, and shipwrecked on an uncharted tropical island. The first mate, Gilligan, along with the skipper, the professor, the millionaire and his wife, the movie star, and a girl from the Midwest brought a lot of humor into American homes as they failed time and again to escape the island.
Eventually, they made it back to civilization.
Now imagine you awaken to find yourself living on an island in the middle of the Pacific. Every day, you are with the same people, going through the same routine, and having the same conversations. Over time, you (and everyone else) settle into simply doing more of the same, day after day after day. The island becomes your small, little world.
This is the limiting mindset that many of us bring to our daily lives. Many of us, without realizing it, have sequestered ourselves on the Island of Limited Thinking, not realizing that the comfort of the familiar becomes the confinement of our potential. When we face no challenge, stop being curious, and cease to grow ourselves, we shipwreck our future.
So, what’s the solution?
Read a book. Listen to a podcast. Attend a conference. Hire a mentor or a coach. Attempt to do something you’ve never done before, knowing you’ll likely fail the first time, but you’ll learn from the experience. Stop quitting at “what if” and proceed to asking “why not?” Then take an uncomfortable step in that direction.
You’re one book, one conversation, one conference, one podcast, one mentor, or one idea away from something big, or bigger. But, like the pharaohs of Egypt, you’ve got to transform your idea into its physical representation. You’ve got to take action.
Personal growth is much more than simply acquiring more information. Reading a book won’t change your life, but acting on what you gleaned from the pages will. Attending a seminar or a conference and taking great notes won’t make you more successful, but acting on what you heard and experienced will. Knowledge is potential energy. Wisdom, the right use of knowledge, is kinetic energy. This is where the transformation takes place.
Information fills notebooks. Application transforms lives.
Remember, far too many leaders limit their goals to what they believe is available. They base their belief on their past experience, prior wins, prior losses, current resources, the economic outlook, and their current people and identity. As a result, they are anchored to the past and only thinking about the present.
They aren’t engaging in forward, visionary thinking.
They aren’t thinking BIG.
I believe there are three levels of thinking we go through on the road to success. How far down that road we travel is based on the quality of our thinking and the corresponding action that follows.
The first level of thinking is Small Thinking. This is when you base your thinking on what’s currently available. You ask questions like, “Can I afford it?” At this level of thinking, your focus is limited based on the resources you believe are available to you. It’s a scarcity mindset that is really asking, “How do I survive without losing what I have?”
This is the level of narrow boundaries and limiting constraints. It keeps you where you are, as you are, essentially unchanged. Small thinking is characterized by a fear of shortage. Failure is viewed as a costly mistake.
The second level of thinking is BIG Thinking. Now you’re focusing on opportunity, the things you CAN accomplish. This level of thinking frees you from your current limitations to start to look at what else is possible. You’re now asking, “How do I stretch beyond where I am to get a bigger, better win?”
This is the level of boundary stretching, believing that more is possible. You start to gain more wins, boost your confidence, and expand your capabilities. Big thinking is characterized by a desire for achievement. Failure is seen as a strategic setback, but a learning opportunity.
The third level of thinking is BIGGEST Thinking. You stop asking what you can afford and accomplish and turn the question inward, asking: “Who must I become?” At this level of thinking, you’re now focused on transformation. You’re committed to daily becoming a better version of who you are and what you do.
This is the level of thinking that moves you beyond having and doing to zero in on becoming. It’s a mindset shift from the external to the internal. It’s about cultivating an abundance mindset. Biggest thinking is the relentless pursuit of excellence through continual transformation. Failure is seen as necessary feedback for growth.
When you only focus on BIG Thinking, you’re vulnerable to “destination syndrome.” This is the limiting belief that achieving a goal will bring lasting satisfaction. BIGGEST Thinking solves this. By focusing on transformation, the goal is no longer the prize. The person you’re becoming as you journey forward to what’s next becomes the true, valuable reward.
After all, when you improve the quality of your thinking, you improve the quality of your saying, doing, and becoming.
In martial arts, a White Belt is focused on simply surviving the next class. The Yellow Belt is focused on passing the next test. The Brown Belt is focused on finally achieving Black Belt, so they can be taught at a deeper, more meaningful level. Grandmasters are focused on multiplication: How many more Black Belts can we create so the legacy continues?
The quality of instruction didn’t change. As each student progresses on the journey toward Black Belt, their thinking transforms. It shifts from asking how quickly I can earn my Black Belt to asking how much I can learn along the way.
The biggest win isn’t the belt tied around your waist. It’s about the person you’ve become in the process, and the person you’re still becoming.
From Big, to Bigger, to Biggest. This is Black Belt Leadership.
So, let’s return to the Great Pyramid of Giza. Each year, between 14-15 million people from around the globe make the journey to Egypt to visit Khufu’s pyramid. On its busiest days, up to 15,000 tourists are found on the Giza plateau visiting the only surviving relic of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World.
What they see as they stand on the Giza plateau is the physical representation of a vision that began in someone’s imagination. The architects and workmen who built the pyramid have been dead for centuries, but their handiwork remains. The Great Pyramid of Giza stands as a living testament to the power of a pharaoh who dared to think BIG.
Leadership works the same way. Great leaders build things that outlive them. And it’s not just buildings. Leaders also envision ideas, develop people, build organizations, create cultures, and leave legacies. They equip and train the people who will one day take their place, perpetuating their legacy in and through their lives.
Your future cannot, and will not, exceed the size of your thinking. If all you see is limitations, you’ll live a limited life. If all you see are opportunities, you’ll live an opportunistic life. If all you see are today’s resources, you’ll never discover tomorrow’s possibilities.
Everything that’s ever been created was nothing more than one person who dared to think big, then bigger.
What would you dare to dream if you knew you could not fail?
