I’ve been skiing my whole life. I know how to get on and off a chairlift. Yet, that didn’t stop me from almost going through the safety gate and grinding the lift to a halt on a recent trip. (And seriously embarrassing myself in the process!)
This got me thinking about the parallels of leadership.
What happened? How did something so ingrained in me almost go sideways, and what’s the connection to leading?
- I wasn’t present “in” the moment. Who knows what I was thinking about – maybe I was enjoying the view. It was anything but “Hey, Self, it’s now time to get off the lift.”
- I was a little rusty. Despite being an
excellentexpert skier, I hadn’t skied in ten months. I didn’t quite have my mojo back. - I wasn’t focused on my “team.” If I had been thinking about others, I would have noticed what my husband was up to – namely, getting off the chairlift.
So, how does all of this relate to the boardroom?
- Not being present or paying attention to your surroundings can mean missing key opportunities or ending up somewhere you didn’t intend. On any given day, most of us rush from one thing to the next. Our brains are constantly multi-tasking. Pause and check in with yourself periodically. What’s going through your mind? What is going on physiologically? What’s happening around you? Adjust course as needed.
- Even Mikaela Shiffrin doesn’t show up to the Olympics without preparing. The same goes for leaders. If you’re out of practice, invest in some prep. (Says she, Queen of the Obvious.) Not sure where to start? Here are a few resources:
- Operating in a vacuum is a recipe for disaster. As a leader, not surrounding yourself with a strong team (which does not necessarily mean “direct reports”) can have unintended consequences. You may not catch all your mistakes or have all the required skills. But your team might. You need people around you to compliment your skills, hold up a leadership mirror, and sometimes keep you from going off a literal or proverbial edge.
You’ll be glad to know I made it down the mountain safely (obvs) without embarrassing myself. “The team,” in this case, was my husband, who came to my rescue. When he saw that I missed my exit (skis no longer hitting the off-ramp), he extended a pole with catlike reflexes. I grabbed it, and with the athletic prowess of a cheetah, 😊jumped off the lift, mere feet before hitting the safety bar.
And that, my friends, is another reason why you should never ski or lead alone.
