Leadership Lessons: From Daily Life

This happened a few years back.

As part of my job, I am used to frequent and long travels regularly. In fact, traveling has been so ingrained into my system that I don’t find myself exerting too much stress or pain at the thought of a trip.  One of the aspects that I look out for while traveling is observing the actions and emotions of fellow travelers apart from opportunities to enjoy the surroundings (especially when I am not reading).

I truly believe that all leaders are not ‘born leaders’ rather circumstances bring out leadership in every human being. It is the consistency with which an individual exhibits this trait that differentiates a true leader from the masses. A true leader consistently exhibits leadership traits to suit the circumstances. And I also believe this trait can be acquired through proper mental conditioning and physical fitness. 

This belief of mine was further strengthened while examining an incident.

Three of us were returning home from a 3-day business trip. For most part of what routinely would have been a nine-hour journey, our SUV sped along the highway as the driver had really stepped on the accelerator. We also did not mind as we were exhausted and the prospects of reaching our respective homes before scheduled time really excited us. Home food, care and warmth of family are what I long to after every trip alone away from my home.

And I presume my other two colleagues too were eager to touch their homes for their own very personal reasons.

Strong winds accompanied by rain started just when we were 150 miles away from our destination. Within a few moments we were stuck behind a trailer carrying a 40 feet container. I was attending to an important prospect call on my cell finalizing a deal and did not pay much attention to our vehicle stoppage initially. I continued to be on mobile for a very long time and slowly realized that traffic was building up behind us. Our driver too had switched off the ignition. My 45-minutes call ended with prospect agreeing to do business with us. It was a really sweet deal and had raised my spirits.

I turned around to my colleague to share this news and surprisingly found him missing. Meanwhile traffic had built up substantially and from where I was seated in the SUV, the trailer blocked all my view and I could not see the source of the traffic block. On enquiry with the driver, he conveyed that my colleague steeped out and had walked ahead. He further shared the news that a big tree had fallen on to the highway just four vehicles ahead of us due to heavy winds. The tree was lying across the road preventing any possible movement of vehicles.

Both I and my other colleague decided to wait inside our vehicle as it was raining and also we were extremely tired due to physical exertion of last few days. I imagined we would be stuck for hours together in the rain and midst of traffic chaos.

Surprisingly, to me, within 20-25 minutes our vehicle started moving and my colleague (who had disembarked) joined us few meters ahead in a jubilant mood. He shared the source of his joyousness.

When he reached the fallen tree, he realized that it was impossible to remove the bulky obstacle without a crane. So he looked around and saw a small house a couple of yards away, walked over there and enquired if they had an axe. Luckily the farmer there had one. Collecting the axe, he organized few drivers of vehicles stuck in the block and started to chop the fallen tree. It took multiple efforts by many people before they could cut the tree to a manageable size that they could manually remove. Once the tree was removed and put aside, he returned the axe and joined us back in our vehicle. As, I looked at him with a sense of deep admiration, I saw that his hand and trousers were dirty with wet mud.

My colleague could have chosen to remain quiet inside the vehicle like many other motorists and travelers (like me) did. But no, he had seized the opportunity to make a difference, led from the front and saved at least 3-4 hours of valuable time of all the motorists stuck in the inter-state highway. A regular gym person, he had taken good care of his body and was prepared for extreme physical labor when required.

This guy, to me, is leader.

And I know for sure is that I would like to have people like him in my team always because they motivate and energize the team around them with their actions. 

Do you agree?