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Podcast Season 3, Episode 41: Lessons on Leadership from the Little Things in Life – You Don’t See Everything

Life is full of examples that teach us lessons. That’s why stories and illustrations make learning so much more effective. When a story can be used to illustrate or demonstrate a valuable lesson, the story makes it much more understandable, relatable, and memorable. With that in mind, I want to take some time to do just that – share examples of circumstances and stories experienced in everyday life which illustrate leadership lessons that we can learn and apply. This is one of those examples, and it serves as a reminder that you don’t see everything.

Here is the link to the podcast.

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Lessons on Leadership from the Little Things in Life: You Don’t See Everything

Life is full of examples that teach us lessons. That’s why stories and illustrations make learning so much more effective. When a story can be used to illustrate or demonstrate a valuable lesson, the story makes it much more understandable, relatable, and memorable. With that in mind, I want to take some time to do just that – share examples of circumstances and stories experienced in everyday life which illustrate leadership lessons that we can learn and apply. This is one of those examples, and it serves as a reminder that you don’t see everything.

I thought about this when I was reflecting on my past experience as an educator. I recall one particular experience in my first year as a teacher when I was standing in the hallway having a face-to-face conversation with a student. I don’t remember what we were talking about, but I do remember the satisfaction of feeling like I was connecting with students. Then, a principal walked past us, stopped, looked at the student, and kindly told him to spit out his gum. The school had “no-gum” policy (because who wants to put their hand under a desk and stick their fingers unto someone else’s used gum), and yet I was looking directly into the face of student and I hadn’t even noticed that he had gum in his mouth.

Although the principal was gracious about it, as a new teacher I was mortified. Something that I was supposed to handle was happening right in front of me, and I didn’t even see it. I know that this was likely not the first time it was true in my job (or in my life in general), but I think it was the first time I realized that I could miss things, sometime obvious things and sometimes important things, and not even know it. Now, it would be fair to say that with experience I got better at seeing things I needed to see as a teacher, but in part that was because I did a better job of focusing on those things . . . and in the process would miss other things that were not part of my focus. No matter how much I improved at seeing some things, I still didn’t see everything.

This is also going to be true for you. I don’t know if you are humble enough to accept it, but regardless, it is still the case, because your brain has certain tendencies. Simon and Chabris demonstrated this in a research experiment involving a basketball, a focused task, and a man in a gorilla suit (if you’re interested, search for Simon and Chabris’s 1999 study, “Gorillas in Our Midst”). The study showed that conscious perception requires our intentional attention because we tend to see what we are looking for, but often see only what we are looking for, and we tend to not see what we are not looking for. Think about the last time you looked everywhere for something you had misplaced, only to find it right in front of you. In your mind, you remembered it looking a little different, or in a specific place, so unconsciously that’s what you were looking for, and therefore didn’t notice when it was in an obvious place where you had already looked.

Because that is the tendency of your brain, it is important that you not be too quick to assume that you have seen everything and then to jump to conclusions. Proverbs 18:13 tells us, “He answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame to him.” One of my counseling professors shared that verse with my class and encouraged us to keep it in front of us when we were listening to patients. And for years as an educator, I kept it on my desk as a reminder when I was listening to discipline situations involving students. It’s because you don’t see everything that you need to make sure you are gathering all the information before you respond.

And that’s the lesson on leadership from this little thing in life, from a recollection of not seeing that a student was chewing gum right in front of my face. You don’t see everything. Partly that is because you can’t focus on everything at once, so you tend to pay attention to what you want to see, and to not see what you are not looking for. For that reason, you need to be careful to hear and receive the observations and information of others, and to not jump to conclusions before you get it. Don’t make decisions or react with your response before you have all the information, because remember, you don’t see everything.

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Quote Your Dad

“The little foxes spoil the vineyard.” Song of Solomon 2:15

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Podcast Season 3, Episode 40: Lessons on Leadership from the Little Things in Life – You Still Have To Take Care of the Annoying Things

Life is full of examples that teach us lessons. That’s why stories and illustrations make learning so much more effective. When a story can be used to illustrate or demonstrate a valuable lesson, the story makes it much more understandable, relatable, and memorable. With that in mind, I want to take some time to do just that – share examples of circumstances and stories experienced in everyday life which illustrate leadership lessons that we can learn and apply. This is one of those examples, and it teaches us that you still have to take care of the little things, even if they are annoying.

Here is the link to the podcast.

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Lessons on Leadership from the Little Things in Life: You Still Have To Take Care of the Annoying Things

Life is full of examples that teach us lessons. That’s why stories and illustrations make learning so much more effective. When a story can be used to illustrate or demonstrate a valuable lesson, the story makes it much more understandable, relatable, and memorable. With that in mind, I want to take some time to do just that – share examples of circumstances and stories experienced in everyday life which illustrate leadership lessons that we can learn and apply. This is one of those examples, and it teaches us that you still have to take care of the little things, even if they are annoying.

I was reminded of this on a day when I was running errands and going to appointments, and trying to schedule other appointments in the process. I was trying to make good use of my time by making phone calls while I was waiting on something else. It happened to be on Good Friday, just before Easter, and the places that I called kept going to voicemail with messages that said that they were closed for Good Friday. Even though I understood why they were closed, it was a little frustrating, because they were still things that I needed to get done. Because they still needed to get done, I couldn’t just forget about them, and had to keep them on my list to take care of on a different day. And that was annoying.

I think that happens frequently with many of the peripheral things that we try to do. They are not the things that are the primary focus of the day, but they are still things that need to get done. Usually they are little things, and often there is more than one that needs to be taken care of. In that way, they can feel like annoyances. You know, things that we have to do because it’s necessary to do them, but we wish we didn’t have to take the time to do them because we feel like there are more important things we need to do with our time. Then, something happens that makes it even a little more difficult to do that little thing than what we had planned. We get frustrated, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is still something that needs to be taken care of. That’s what I was experiencing in that moment.

After I got past the initial frustration, I thought about some of the things that this experience could teach me. You may think of more, and you are welcome to share those with me, but these are the three that I immediately came to my mind.

  1. Take care of the little things, even if it’s annoying. It reminds me of the parable of the talents that Jesus told when he made the point that he who is faithful in little will be faithful in much. It reveals the reality that how you handle little things is generally a reflection of how you will handle big things. I’m also reminded of the verse in Song of Solomon 2:15 that, as an analogy, says the little foxes ruin the vineyard. So, not only will doing the little things be an indication of how you handle bigger things, not doing them will have a negative effect in the long run.
  2. Know that there will be hiccups. Often things don’t go exactly according to plan. Similar to the way that Jeff Goldblum‘s character described chaos theory in the original Jurassic Park movie when he dropped a water droplet on his knuckle to illustrate that tiny variations will cause changes in what happens next, expect that there will be unexpected things that have an impact on what you are trying to do.
  3. Choose how you respond, and take care of those little things anyway. You may not have control over external factors that cause hiccups, but you do have control over how you respond. Choose to see these things as challenges to be managed rather than problems that are in your way. You can’t always avoid the little difficulties, so don’t let them derail you.

That’s the lesson on leadership from this little thing in life, from navigating the little annoyances on a day when I was taking care of errands. Along with those things that may be your primary focus or task, there are lots of little things that need to be addressed, resolved, or managed. Expect them to be things that cause frustration (sometimes, at least), and choose how you respond, knowing that how you do is a reflection of how you will handle the big things, and that when you don’t, you are creating bigger problems. So, even if they are annoying, take care of the little things.

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Quote Your Dad

“Either it’s true, or it’s not.”

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Podcast Season 3, Episode 39: Lessons on Leadership from the Little Things in Life – There Is More To See Than What You See

Life is full of examples that teach us lessons. That’s why stories and illustrations make learning so much more effective. When a story can be used to illustrate or demonstrate a valuable lesson, the story makes it much more understandable, relatable, and memorable. With that in mind, I want to take some time to do just that – share examples of circumstances and stories experienced in everyday life which illustrate leadership lessons that we can learn and apply. This is one of those examples, and it teaches us that there is often more to what you see than what you see.

Here is the link to the podcast.

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Lessons on Leadership from the Little Things in Life: There Is More To See Than What You See

Life is full of examples that teach us lessons. That’s why stories and illustrations make learning so much more effective. When a story can be used to illustrate or demonstrate a valuable lesson, the story makes it much more understandable, relatable, and memorable. With that in mind, I want to take some time to do just that – share examples of circumstances and stories experienced in everyday life which illustrate leadership lessons that we can learn and apply. This is one of those examples, and it teaches us that there is often more to what you see than what you see.

I was driving to a neighboring town for some work that needed to be done on my truck. I live near the edge of the county, and the place I needed to get to was not far across the county line, so this errand took me into a different county than one that I live in. As I was driving towards my destination, I saw the sign on the side of the road that announced that I was now entering the next county. The difference was noticeable, because almost immediately the road surface became rougher, with some potholes and a well-worn surface. To be fair, the county that I live in had just resurfaced the road, and it had been quite rough before they had done that. But now, the difference was obvious. It was the same road, but the appearance, quality, and drivability changed when I crossed over from one county into another.

This made me think about other things that were the same, but then were presented, provided, or maintained differently. For example, sometimes when I’ve searched for something on Amazon, I have seen the exact same item selling for different prices from different vendors. I have seen cars listed for sale that were the same make, model, and year, but with noticeably different appearance and wear. I have gone to a department store to see an item of furniture or clothing selling for a higher (or lower) price than the same item at another department store (and it’s because this is true that some stores will offer to price match the price of something that another store has listed). I’ve witnessed prices rise, sometimes significantly, and then lower again in relation to circumstance and demand (do you remember the fluctuation in egg prices during the year of COVID?).

What do all of these things indicate? They point out that there is usually more to something than than what it appears to be in the surface. Eggs are eggs, but sometimes eggs are more valuable at one time than they are at other times. Two cars that are the same are affected by how they are maintained. The same item sold from different places will be affected by hidden costs of service and administrative factors. Each of those is affected by timing, priority, and resources. And that’s helps to explain why the same road that I was driving on in one county had a different feel in another county.

Now apply this concept to your leadership and your organization. You may offer a service or a product, but there is more to what you offer than simply the service or the product. It is for that reason that you need to be aware of the “more” that is there. If you are not, it will have a negative effect, not just on what other people see, but what they experience. You may be aware of others factors than what I list here, but you can at least start with these four things.

  1. Reputation. Your character and your conduct, both personally and organizationally, produce a reputation, and once that reputation is in place, it is very difficult to change. Be aware of your reputation, and get in front of things that could damage it.
  2. Hidden costs. There are often unexpected and unseen factors that impact what you are doing and how you are doing it. Knowing that allows you to plan for those kinds of contingencies. I had an uncle who was a building contractor, and he always added vandalism expenses to his costs, because experience had taught him that he was likely to experience it on a building project.
  3. Maintenance. Everything experiences wear from use and friction over time. Make sure that you are doing things necessary to maintain whatever needs to be maintained. There is effort and cost to keeping things maintained, so you need to account for it.
  4. Need. Demand almost always plays a role in the value of something. Pay attention to what people need, so that you can be aware of the ways in which you can meet those needs, and show how you are doing so.

That’s the lesson on leadership from this little thing in life, from noticing the change in the surface of the road as I drove from one county into another. There are things that you don’t see that eventually have an impact on what you do see. The reality is that what people see is also going to be affected by what they experience, and what they experience is often affected by what they don’t see. This requires you to cultivate a level of awareness and discernment, so that you can see what is not obvious or visible, what is hidden but necessary or uncontrollable, and can be intentional about how you navigate those things. Learn to see beyond and beneath what you see on the surface, because there is more to see than what you see.

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Quote Your Dad

“You can be better or you can be bitter, but better is better than bitter.”

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Podcast Season 3, Episode 38: Lessons on Leadership from the Little Things in Life – You Don’t Always See the Help That Was Needed

Life is full of examples that teach us lessons. That’s why stories and illustrations make learning so much more effective. When a story can be used to illustrate or demonstrate a valuable lesson, the story makes it much more understandable, relatable, and memorable. With that in mind, I want to take some time to do just that – share examples of circumstances and stories experienced in everyday life which illustrate leadership lessons that we can learn and apply. This is one of those examples, and it teaches us that you don’t always see the help that was needed (or that was given!).

Here is the link to the podcast.

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