Leaders are like car drivers…

I’m early in another good read.  This one is titled, Traffic and is written by Tom Vanderbilt.  Here’s something the book has caused me to ponder.

Leaders and car drivers suffer from a similar problem.  They both tend to think they are better than they are.  They both base this on feedback.  Very few drivers get much in the way of negative feedback.  Few of us are ticketed more than once a year.  Most of us, once we get beyond our teen years, are not involved in car wrecks at all.  AND, if we are, it’s usually easy for us to blame someone else.  We get hit from behind (most often), the police are simply hitting their quota, the black ice got me, or some other excuse, are the thoughts that dominate our minds.

Leaders suffer the same.  Few of us get much negative feedback at all, unless we really drive the bus off the cliff.  AND, sadly most of us have a golden parachute, so unlike our passengers, we land rather softly.  Not much feedback, even when we crash.  AND, even more telling is the fact that few leaders ever need the parachute.  Most just drive around like some kind of “Elmer Fudd” character, completely unaware that they are driving others off the road with their haphazard leadership.  

Leaders, it turns out, are indeed like car drivers.  Most rate themselves as better than average.  We know this isn’t true but we all seem to think that we’re the exception.  Funny, huh.

The “untrained” driver is relying on two things to keep them on the road.  The first one is luck.  The second may not be much better.  The second bet  is that they have some really good “backseat” drivers that give them honest feedback, refuse to ride with them, send them to drivers school, or teach them proper technique.  Of course, this assumes that those in the back seat are properly trained driver instructors.  

Leaders need truth tellers in the front seat, right next to them.  They need professional builders that are studying their habits and offering them feedback well before the crash does.  This is why we exist at BUILT TO LEAD.  We don’t want to simply keep our clients from crashing.  We want to build them to lead themselves and those around them in the direction of their big dreams.  We instruct, encourage, and correct as needed.  Together we transform these leaders and their teams into a high performance team of drivers.  Very cool.

I never imagined that we were comparable to driving instructors and I never realized that I might not be quite the driver that my lack of crashes has led me to believe.  

I do NOW…