Running Red Lights
I ran two red lights in the past twenty-four hours. One was an hour ago. The other was on my way home from dinner with a client and his girlfriend.
In both instances, I had a passenger in the car. So, when I ran a red light for the second time on the way to the airport to drop her off, she kind of asked in a marvelously relaxed voice, "Face, what are you doing? The light is red."
What happened?
On the way to the airport I was paying attention to the wrong things. The same was true last night. My friend told me I stopped at the light and then proceeded through it, as if it were a stop sign.
In both cases, alcohol was NOT involved. But, who needed booze? I had an alternative that was just as effective at short-circuiting the brain. What was it? MY THOUGHTS.
On the way to the airport today I was thinking two selfish thoughts that created a hazardous situation for me and my friend - not to mention several involved parties. What were the thoughts? Well, for grins and giggles - and to prove a point - I was thinking about:
1. Passing a slow-driving Volvo and,
2. Avoiding a puddle at the stop light (I had just washed the car.)
I have to say about last night that I do not recall running the light. But I can tell you, in both instances I was impatient and self-centered And THAT led to the danger.
So, I got to thinking how many times leaders in business, in one-on-one and team situations are so fixated on their own needs and wants that they create problems and even dangerous situations for the people they work with.
I'll go out on a limb and say that many, many times a leader is fixated on pace and speed and time-shortages and not being able to fit something into their schedule because they "don't have the time" they are being more self-centered and selfish than they should be - and more myopic than is good for the long-term.
Is that too big a leap? I don't think so. Watch and listen to the hard-charging leader pushing for task achievement at the cost of interpersonal morale. Pay attention to the leader who needs to slow things down and cross every t and dot every i a million times, check and double check to make sure it's all okay...It's very often about their need and their individual ideas about what is appropriate, rather than what is good for the whole group, or the other person. I'm sure you can think of more examples.
In my case, I created a scary situation because I was in my head. Had I been paying full attention to what was happening around me, I would have made better decisions.
In both instances, I had a passenger in the car. So, when I ran a red light for the second time on the way to the airport to drop her off, she kind of asked in a marvelously relaxed voice, "Face, what are you doing? The light is red."
What happened?
On the way to the airport I was paying attention to the wrong things. The same was true last night. My friend told me I stopped at the light and then proceeded through it, as if it were a stop sign.
In both cases, alcohol was NOT involved. But, who needed booze? I had an alternative that was just as effective at short-circuiting the brain. What was it? MY THOUGHTS.
On the way to the airport today I was thinking two selfish thoughts that created a hazardous situation for me and my friend - not to mention several involved parties. What were the thoughts? Well, for grins and giggles - and to prove a point - I was thinking about:
1. Passing a slow-driving Volvo and,
2. Avoiding a puddle at the stop light (I had just washed the car.)
I have to say about last night that I do not recall running the light. But I can tell you, in both instances I was impatient and self-centered And THAT led to the danger.
So, I got to thinking how many times leaders in business, in one-on-one and team situations are so fixated on their own needs and wants that they create problems and even dangerous situations for the people they work with.
I'll go out on a limb and say that many, many times a leader is fixated on pace and speed and time-shortages and not being able to fit something into their schedule because they "don't have the time" they are being more self-centered and selfish than they should be - and more myopic than is good for the long-term.
Is that too big a leap? I don't think so. Watch and listen to the hard-charging leader pushing for task achievement at the cost of interpersonal morale. Pay attention to the leader who needs to slow things down and cross every t and dot every i a million times, check and double check to make sure it's all okay...It's very often about their need and their individual ideas about what is appropriate, rather than what is good for the whole group, or the other person. I'm sure you can think of more examples.
In my case, I created a scary situation because I was in my head. Had I been paying full attention to what was happening around me, I would have made better decisions.
