This morning I made a mule mad. This morning during a tough practice with a man who is more mule than mustang, he told me my choice words made him mad. He defended his anger as righteous and argued it was not his fault. We are working on building him stronger and I tweaked him in my attempt to make him see his blindspot. So, instead of backing away from the mad mule, I kicked him again. I brought a teammate into our practice and explained what we were working on. I asked her if she would answer one question as honestly as she could. Her sincerity came through instantly as she smiled a real Duchenne smile in response to my request.
One question turned into one, long, enligtening, answer. You see, people want to help those in leadership over and around them, they just don’t know how without being invited and instructed as to why their feedback is wanted/needed. My mule client slowly let it in. Somehow hearing the same words from his trusted teammate seemed to validate the verse he had been rejecting from me. I smiled inside as his building within was obvious. I didn’t mind he had rejected me and received the same freakin’ message from another. You see, builders don’t much care how the building gets done – just that it does.
Leader, use all the tools you’ve got and don’t be afraid to borrow from those around you. If you want to build your teammate, client, family member, boss, brother, or any other, you’ve got to come to grips with whatever works, well, works. There are no easy, risk free, routes to high performance. You are gonna have to take some chances along the way. Embrace this. Face the fact you might fail. Build, anyway. And, remember, when it comes to illuminating blindspots most of us are kinda like a mule with our heels dug in. Sometimes, like today, it takes more than one kick and even more than one kicker to dislodge your mad mule.
Thanks, virtuous teammate for the helping hand – I mean, kick…
BUILT TO LEAD 