The One Habit Separating High-Growth Leaders from Everyone Else

At 4:00 AM, when most of the small town in India was still asleep, the lights in our tiny Mom-&-Pop store would flicker on. My father—a man whose life had been defined by hard losses—would begin his daily ritual of meticulous organization, arranging products with the precision of someone who had learned that control was safety.

He had good reason to avoid risks. Orphaned at four, given up for adoption, treated as less than family, and eventually running away as a teenager with a new wife—my father had seen enough chaos for one lifetime. After years of separation from his children while he established himself, he had finally found stability in routine and refinement.

"We know what works," he would say, counting inventory with unwavering focus. "We stick with it."

Representative image closely resembling what we had - a small Kirana Store in remote India run out of home.

By early 90s, we had climbed from poverty to lower-middle class through his disciplined approach. We weren't rich, but we were secure—a victory for a man who had started with nothing. As we grew, my father’s careful, hard-earned system seemed like the answer to every problem. And for a while, it was. Until one night, my eldest brother posed a question that would set in motion a series of changes none of us saw coming.

"Why do we open at 5:00 when no customers arrive until 7:00?" he asked one evening. My father looked up, confused by the challenge to his carefully constructed system.

"What if we sold milk in those early hours?" my brother continued. "And why compete with fifty other grocery stores when there's only one pharmacy in the locality?"

My father's instinct was to reject these ideas—refinement had gotten us this far. But something remarkable happened instead. Perhaps seeing a spark of himself before life's hardships, he listened. Or, rather - thankfully my brother didn’t.

What emerged was an unexpected alchemy: my father's gift for refining processes paired with my brother's hunger to discover new possibilities. One protected what we had built; the other reached for what we couldn't yet see.

Within a decade, our single storefront had multiplied into diverse businesses. Our family moved from lower-middle to the upper-middle class. I and the next generation managed to receive education my father couldn't have imagined. And, going by the numbers from World Inequality Lab report, four individuals of the family today are in Top 0.1% earners in India.

The catalyst wasn't just hard work—it was this balance. My father's disciplined refinement meeting my brother's courageous discovery created something neither could have achieved alone.

This image stayed with me because it perfectly captures a choice we all make every single day—often without even realizing it:

Do you stick with what you know and refine it, or do you risk venturing into the unknown and discover something new?

It's a choice between refining and discovering.

As we grow in our careers and our businesses, refinement becomes the comfortable choice. It's easy to stick with the strategies that have worked in the past. It's comfortable to optimize what's already familiar rather than challenge our assumptions. Refinement gives us a sense of control — of productivity.

That's when we stop discovering. We stay in our comfort zones, stuck in the routines of yesterday's success.

This is the trap that many leaders — especially product and generational business leaders — fall into.

But what happens when we don't make time for discovery?

Bobby Fischer, perhaps the greatest chess prodigy the world has ever known. By age 15, he was a grandmaster. At 29, he defeated Boris Spassky in the famous 1972 "Match of the Century" to become World Champion.

Fischer's genius came from an extraordinary balance of discovery and refinement. He was known for inventing new opening strategies that shocked opponents, while simultaneously refining his endgame to mathematical perfection.

But after reaching the pinnacle, something changed. Fischer became obsessed with refining his already exceptional play, analyzing games for imagined imperfections. Simultaneously, he stopped discovering—he refused to adapt to new approaches emerging in the chess world.

When he finally returned to championship chess twenty years later in 1992, he faced a new generation of players who had built upon his innovations while developing new ones. Though still brilliant, Fischer had lost his edge. The man who had changed chess forever became increasingly erratic and eventually receded from public life entirely.

Refinement is where the true mastery lies. It’s not about abandoning what works — it’s about perfecting it. But over time, when the quest for refinement becomes obsessive, without the fuel of discovery, even the sharpest edge dulls.

Even the greatest genius in the world can't survive on refinement alone. Without discovery, excellence becomes obsolescence.

On the flip side, discovery without refinement is equally fatal.

Take Dr. John Snow, for example. In 1854, during a deadly cholera outbreak in London, Snow was confronted with a medical community that believed cholera spread through "bad air" — the Miasma theory. Most doctors were busy refining treatments based on this flawed idea.

But Snow took a different path. Instead of refining the theory, he discovered something entirely new: that cholera was waterborne. Armed with little more than a map and his curiosity, he meticulously tracked cases and uncovered that they were clustered around a single water pump on Broad Street. His ground-breaking discovery not only changed the course of medical history, but also laid the foundation for modern epidemiology.

However, discovery wasn't enough. Snow spent years refining his methods, ensuring the data was accurate, and convincing a sceptical medical community that the miasma theory was wrong.

It's this tension between discovery and refinement that lies at the heart of every breakthrough.

So, what does this mean for you as a leader?

Whether you're running a startup or leading a product team, you face the same choice that Dr. John Snow and Bobby Fischer did. Do you get comfortable refining what works, or do you push yourself to discover new opportunities?

Here's the reality: You can't scale your career or your business if you stop discovering.

Think of the leaders and product innovators who push the boundaries of what's possible. They don't solely refine — they're constantly discovering new ways to solve problems, reach customers, or create value. They recognize that curiosity fuels growth, and discovery sparks innovation.

At the same time, they don't let the thrill of discovery make them lose sight of the basics. They continuously refine what works, build on their past successes, and perfect their strategies.

Playbook: how can you apply this in your own life?

A simple rule that the best leaders follow is the 1/3 - 2/3 principle:

Spend 1/3 of your time discovering new possibilities, new markets, new ways to innovate. Spend 2/3 of your time refining what works — whether it's your leadership style, your product, or your company's processes.

This balance ensures you're always growing without getting stuck in the trap of endless innovation. Let me break this down into practical steps.

For discovery (1/3 of your time):

• Block 90 minutes each week in your calendar labelled "Discover" - with no agenda except exploration

• Read one book monthly from a field completely unrelated to your own

• Have coffee with someone from a different industry every two weeks

• Set aside 10% of your resources for experiments with uncertain outcomes

For refinement (2/3 of your time):

• Identify the three core activities that drive 80% of your results, and practice them deliberately

• Create systems that standardize your most effective processes

• Implement a weekly review of what's working and how to optimize it further

• Get regular feedback on your high-impact activities

Now that you’ve seen how balancing discovery and refinement can propel growth, ask yourself: What are you holding back from discovering? And what’s one process you could refine today?

The balance isn’t easy, but it’s the only way to grow.

Take five minutes today to think about your balance.

I was recently working with a startup founder who was trapped in endless refinement. His product was good, but growth had plateaued. When we analyzed his calendar, he was spending nearly 95% of his time optimizing existing processes and only 5% exploring new possibilities.

We shifted his balance closer to the 1/3 - 2/3 principle. Within three months, his team had discovered two entirely new market segments they hadn't considered before. The company's growth trajectory changed completely.

Now, think about your current situation.

Are you spending too much time refining what worked in the past, or are you still making space to explore new horizons? How much of your daily routine is dedicated to discovering new approaches versus fine-tuning what's already successful?

Take five minutes today to think about your balance.

What's one area you're refining? What's one area you're discovering?

If you find yourself leaning too far toward one, it might be time to adjust. The next phase of your growth — whether personally or professionally — depends on your ability to both discover new opportunities and refine your expertise to make them work.

High-growth leadership isn't about choosing between curiosity and mastery — it's about mastering the balance. When you get it right, you'll scale faster, lead more effectively, and inspire those around you to do the same.

So — are you discovering enough? And are you refining what matters?