We Need One Another For Balance

I have a handful of favorite movies, and last week as part of my Thanksgiving tradition I watched Planes, Trains, and Automobiles starring the late great John Candy and Steve Martin. This 1987 classic has always hit home with me, but this year it took on an entirely different meaning. If somehow you've never watched it, please take the time to do so.

We have deep divides in the United States that are polarizing us as a nation. The fictional characters of Neal Page, a high strung well educated marketing executive from the suburbs of Chicago, and Del Griffith, a warm hearted annoying salesman who travels from place to place across the heartland, are as different as two people could ever be. Each of them has a unique life story, but they can't discover it because they're too busy prejudging each other.

This movie also better connected for me the lack of human leadership that has contributed to the great resignation going on with so many companies today. If you can't be an inclusive, kind, empathetic human being outside of work when you encounter people who are different than you, there's a good chance that you've only been pretending to be one inside of work as well. The pandemic unmasked inauthentic leaders who when put to the test, didn't have the backs of others. Treating people with compassion is a genuine virtue, not a calculated strategy.

The trunk that Del Griffith hauls from place to place is more than what's left of his life after his wife Marie died; it's his baggage of sadness, loneliness, and insecurity. What Neal Page carries around is his inability not to judge, point out flaws, and project his own poor self image onto others. He ultimately discovers some self-awareness, takes time to reflect, and realizes he has become a better person by learning from the dissimilarity he has with Del.

In the end, our diversity and personal differences can be our strength or our weakness, it's a choice we have to make. We can either lift one another up and recognize everyone has baggage that they need help carrying, or we can all go it alone. We can choose to attack one another, or take the time to get to know one another. My hope for the New Year and beyond is that the Neal Page's and Del Griffith's who exist in our business organizations, neighborhoods, families, and on planes, trains, and automobiles, start engaging our fellow man with a smile, loving heart, and an open mind.

Our balance, happiness, and civility depend on it.