There was once a junior supply officer in the USMC who was on a field operation in the humid and hot North Carolina spring air. It was a stormy night and as the officer woke from a few hours of sleep, he knew that the supplies that he was supposed to get out didn't make it due to the inclement weather. He had tried his best but had come up short. Now he had to face his commanding officer and the logistics officer to communicate that the job didn't get done.
This week has really been a challenging one for me as a leader of people at work, of my kids and my wife at home, of fellow youth leaders at church, of my extended family and my close friends. After a long season of battling many different illnesses, a long-time close friend, mentor and advisor died: my father-in-law. He was the most determined and optimistic person I have ever known and I am going to miss him immensely.
My co-worker and I had recently traveled to Spokane, Washington, an amazingly beautiful place. We found some time to get out of the office to take in the beauty of the Pacific Northwest. As is usual when I travel, I managed to find where the rock cliffs were. And where there are cliffs, there's adventure. I'M THERE.
Last week I talked about embracing challenge and using the past experiences of overcoming challenges to inspire you to action. This week I want to talk about that a bit deeper. Why did I jump off that tree branch? For the reward? Yes, after I did it the first time, but before that I didn't know what the reward was., but my brother did. He inspired me to action because he made me BELIEVE. Wow, that is a powerful word. Believe.
I read a book about 15 years ago that talked about the importance of having a life motto and putting it in your office where you can see it everyday. I thought that would be a neat idea and so I began to think about it every day for 2 weeks or so and finally came up with the phrase that embraces my life up till that time, but also has continued to inspire me as I uncover each day. My life motto is...
I recently watched Fury, a movie about a WWII tank crew that stuck together as they laid down their lives for one another. It reminded me of my time in the Marine Corps where I was inducted into a band of brothers who all believed in one thing: that we could do anything if we looked out for each other. This didn’t happen overnight; it happened through many challenges that were not fun at the time, but when we were done, we had accomplished the task at hand and we did it together.
Last Fall, my son and I went to Joshua Tree National Park. We were so motivated and driven to reach the top of this rock formation. We had tried one way up and had to decide to stop after making it two-thirds of the way up because the we decided together that the risk was too great. We found a new way up, but had one 5 foot jump up to an uneven area of rock above us and over a 50 foot ravine.
Intent or motive is a huge part of trust. The motive that inspires the greatest trust is genuine love. If you truly love someone, you will sacrifice whatever it takes to help make them to be successful. A leader that takes time to help their people succeed is a real loving leader. A sign of a true leader is when a leader could have been doing something to further their success and instead spent the time and energy to help make you successful.
There we were, my son and I, bouldering (rock climbing without ropes or equipment) in the Pinnacles near Big Bear Lake, California. This was an adventurous leader’s playground. I took this as an opportunity to be both an example for Luke by leading the climbs up rock faces, and also to allow him to begin to lead: to physically experience risk (death from falling) and reward (the breath taking views from the top).
Learning Leader, LLC | Paul M. Perrin
