Anyone who knows me will tell you that October is generally my favorite month of the year. Put Christmas in October and it would be perfect!
I LOVE Fall.
The sites… the smells… the colors… AND THE TEMPS! Sixty-five degree days… wonderful!
Though I must admit, this year’s been a little different.
You see, the Summer of 2009 was like our traditional Fall, and well… the Fall of 2009 is kinda starting off like early Winter.
In fact, thanks to global warming, it was all of twenty-eight degrees as we, along with friends, walked across a (very large and open) parking lot to our cars the other night.
As the wind whipped and swirled around us, there was one (and only one) thought on each of our minds. Almost in unison, as if singing a hallelujah chorus, we belted out, “HOLY COW (Wisconsin terminology)… IT IS COLD OUT HERE!!!”
Which naturally led to a discussion on Leadership.
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As we went, our friend’s son began a story of how he had slept outside the previous evening as part of a program with the Boy Scouts. Yes, it was just as cold the night before, and yes… they had a blast… in part, no doubt, because their Scout Leaders were not with them.
You see, the Leaders were inside… snuggled in their beds.
Wow… did that bring back memories! Thirty-odd years ago, our troop also camped year around, and for several of those years we had “Leaders” who regularly led (or attempted to lead) from the back of the pack.
It was often a case of “Wait for me… I’m your leader…!!”
I remember one January Winter Camp in particular… straight up temperatures of zero… with wind chills of -30 degrees or more. Okay, so in the event that “WIND CHILL”, as described above, is a foreign concept to you, here is the rule of thumb…
When you go outside… cover up everything that you don’t want to fall off!
…’nuff said.
I know… it’s nuts, but there we were.
An entire weekend spent in tents with the snow piled high on every side for insulation. Or at least that’s where my friends and I were… our Leaders were in small cabins… wearing t-shirts and playing cards and drinking beer.
Now, to be fair, these were the same guys who had sent us out into the woods on a three hour “Snipe Hunt” the previous Summer, while they sat around in t-shirts, playing cards and well, you know… drinking beer.
“If you get in trouble… we’ll be back here,” they shouted.
And at the time, I think as boys we all kinda laughed about it… but on the inside, we were REALLY searching for leadership. We wanted to know that the Oath, the Law, the Motto and Promises were for real.
We wanted to BELIEVE.
Just like the people in our organizations today.
I look forward to speaking with you.
Takeaways:
The title of “Leader” and the qualities of Leadership are not necessarily connected.
If you are looking behind you for your leader… you may be it.
If you have followers… they WANT you to lead.
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