"Luck comes to a man who puts himself in the way of it.
You went where something might be found and you found something,
simple as that."
- Louis L'Amour, To the Far Blue
Mountains
I had the pleasure this past Saturday of joining an executive
coaching client on a local group bike ride. As a cycling
enthusiast, I always welcome such opportunities, and have a
number of clients who are excellent riders.
Our route was north out of Naples, Florida up the coast to the
Ft. Myers beach area - a 40 mile round trip ride -- most of the
route being on a small strip of land between the gulf to the west
and the bay and river to the east -- a scenic and very popular
route, and the only route connecting the Naples beach area with
the Ft. Myers beach area. There are also about five bridges each
way -- giving us an even better view of the waterways.
As we rode north, we encountered a number of other small groups
of riders, noting that two or three were ahead of us. At the
20-mile halfway point, we turned around to return south and found
a nice tailwind that allowed us to pick up our pace a bit. About
5 miles into the return trip we began approaching a draw bridge
and began to slow down our pace.
We noticed a crowd of people standing at the top of the bridge
and a line of stopped cars leading up to the bridge. As we got
closer, we realized that all of the people at the top were other
cyclists on their way back south. We rode up along-side several
of those and were told that the draw bridge was was
"stuck" in a partially open position and that traffic
had been stopped by the bridge officials until it could be fixed.
So....we waited. 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15
minutes -- this was NOT looking good and was not how we all had
planned to spend our Saturday morning. The line of cars grew
longer, some turning around, but no "action" on the bridge
situation.
A few minutes later, a police officer drove up, got out of her
car, and informed us that it MAY be 30 minutes before an
electrician would arrive to fix the bridge mechanism, and perhaps
longer than that to actually fix it. Not good
news. It was getting hot; there was no shade, and we had
already ridden 25 miles, with limited water remaining in our
water bottles.
What to do? We considered our options: (1) Wait,
or (2) Turn around and head north and take the long way home,
which would be an EXTRA 20+ miles. All of us -- approximately 20
fellow cyclists -- considered those options. A small group turned
around and said they would find a place to stop and eat breakfast
and just wait it out.
My CLIENT had another
idea .... He walked his bike up to the crest of the
bridge ... to review and confirm the nature of the "situation."
How bad was the "obstacle?" How serious was it really? WAS it
impassable for a bicycle?
The rest of us FOLLOWED. We were all
curious.
At the top, we noted that the draw bridge had, in fact,
malfunctioned, but there was only an eight inch (maybe less) step
down from the movable platform of the draw bridge (with no "gap")
to the cement-way of the south side of the bridge (an obstacle
for a car, NOT a bike). We simply stepped down, got on our bikes,
looked at each other with a subtle sense of
embarrassment, and rode south .... back to our starting
point.
Lesson learned:
- LEADERS lead the way.
- LEADERS question assumptions.
- LEADERS ASK.
- LEADERS take "risks" and display boldness.
- LEADERS take initiative.
Many of the cyclists we encountered at the bridge that morning
were business owners and executives -- leaders in their own
right. I knew all of them. We also had at least one executive
coach in the group ... that being me.
But .... only one of us LEAD in that situation.
The fact that is was my client was a great feeling. He beamed
with satisfaction that he had taken the initiative and LEAD the
way to a successful resolution.
What situations are you facing where there MAY be assumptions
that COULD be questioned? Take the initiative .... investigate,
ask, confirm, then reconfirm.
The solution may be EASIER THAN YOU THINK!
Andy Robinson,
Executive Career
Coach
Co-host, Career Success
Radio Show
A leading authority on
career success; 15-year executive coaching
veteran
Contact:
Andy@CRGLeaders.com,
239-285-5575