Situational Leadership

Let's change it up a bit.  Let's talk about something different for a moment.  Ever notice that when things go right or wrong, what's there? Actually the question is who is there? I'll pause for a moment for you to think it through a bit.

           Pausing.

           Waiting.

           Have you got the answer? 

Since you had me wait, I'm going to take a moment and share this story.  The answer to the question is farther below.

Now regardless of your race or gender, what distinguishes us is our experiences and how we handle them.

As an example, many of you know that I have a dog named Ulysses. What you don't know is that she's been in California visiting my parents.  During my visit last weekend, I was driving my friend's car on the way to Fort Funston, a dog park in San Francisco. My friend was in the passenger seat staring out the window. I would describe the trip as uneventful until this incident: While I was in the intersection the light turns yellow. All of a sudden my friend yells hysterically telling me to stop the car. "Stop the car! There's a camera. You might get a ticket!" For a moment, I stopped, but considering I was in the middle of the street I went through.

"What was my friend thinking?" I thought to myself. "It's quite dangerous to distract me while I'm driving. Why would my friend yell like that?"

Well why I chose to tell you this story is because 1.) I'm sure everyone has had a friend yell at them while they are driving, right? And 2.) this is a universal concept to depict leadership in a situation. I think that two things could have happened. Either I stop in the middle of the street honoring my friend's wishes to stop the car or go through the light. In this situation, I chose to go through the light. The lesson to be learned in regards to leadership is that when you're leading you're the driver. You are responsible for yourself and for others in the car to get to your destination safely 100% of the time. A corollary is to also be responsible for sharing the road and have other drivers get to their destination safely.

Now for the answer to the question of who's there when things go right or who's there when things go wrong?  It's obvious. The answer is YOU.  You're there.  And what's even more obvious is that you can be a leader in that situation. 

Regards,
Gil Gido
NAAAP Seattle
President