Holy leadership, Batman!
Last weekend, I took my 11-year-old to her absolute, most favorite place in the entire world; Dave & Buster’s. Little did I know, this daddy/daughter date would provide me with an excellent test of leadership.
As is the custom when we go to Dave & Buster’s, we loaded up our game cards with 125 points (that’s $25 US to you non-D&B folks) and made our way across the intensely psychedelic carpet; lights flashing, music blasting, and bells ringing.
We started with the usual fare; Contest of Champions, Mario Kart, Pac-Man, etc. But the key to my daughter’s heart lives with the games that award prize tickets. She loves the tickets. The more tickets she gets, the more options she has at the prize store at the end of our night.
As we made our way to the back of this Las Vegas casino for children, we stumbled upon a giant crane machine with huge plush prizes. Resting gently on the top of the plush pile was Batman. Now, my daughter has been a fan of Batman since she was itty bitty. She has a Batman piggy bank, Batman bedsheets, a Batman 12 inch action figure…you get the idea. This Batman was going to be hers!
She quickly scanned her game card. 10 points gone. First attempt a failure.
A second card scan; 10 more points gone, another failure.
There was a third attempt and a fourth attempt and a fifth attempt. She looked up at me with concern. “I only have 10 points left. Should I use my last 10 points to try one more time?”
I understood why she was torn. She just spent a huge bulk of her points trying to win this Batman rather than collecting those coveted prize tickets. I wanted to give her advice. I wanted to tell her what I thought she should do. But then I remembered all those leadership trainings. Sometimes the best thing to do is ask questions and listen. Especially when you know the person is capable of making their own decision.
“That’s a tough one,” I started. “What are you leaning towards?”
“I don’t know.” She said, tapping her card nervously against the crane machine. "I really think I can get it on this next try. But if I don’t, then I wasted my points.”
“That makes sense. Well, let’s look at both sides. If you spend your points and you don’t get it, how will you feel?”
“Sad!” she said, unable to muster a more complex description of her emotions.
“Now, what if you spend your last ten points on another game; one that gives you tickets? Will you regret not trying one more time?”
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The wheels were turning.
“If I don’t try, I know I will regret it more. I know that I'll leave here thinking that I could’ve won a Batman if I just tried one more time.”
I let her sit with that last sentence for just a moment.
“Final decision?” I asked.
“Final decision.” She said.
She scanned the card, positioned the claw, and hit the button to release it. She placed it perfectly, right in the middle of the giant Batman. As the claw came up, it lifted the bottom half of Batman off the pile for a split second. But the weak grip of the claw wasn’t enough to hoist the weight of the plushy into the air. ?No dice.
We both let out a groan as if we watched the star player miss the game-winning shot in the championship game. It was close. But no Batman.
I offered her my condolences and we made our way to the prize room to cash in on the tickets we had won earlier in the night; only a few hundred in total. She walked away from our adventure with a very small and adorable plush axolotl. She was extremely happy with her new prize and had no regrets about making that last attempt for her beloved Batman.?But Batman wasn’t forgotten. The quest to claim him was just postponed until next time.
When I thought about this experience, I thought about so many conversations I’ve had over the years as a leader. There are many times where I jumped in with my own thoughts and advice when I should’ve just stopped and asked some questions and listened. If I had told my daughter what to do in that moment, I would’ve done her a disservice. She was completely capable of making this decision on her own. And by her making her own decision, she learned a little bit about how to handle life when something doesn't work out the way she wants it to.
As a dad, that was way more valuable in the long run than any other prize she might have won that night; including Batman.
Solutions Trainer at RealPage
2 年Love this! I was on the edge of my seat while reading. I really wanted her to get the Batman, but sounds like her strength in decision making was the best victory of all!