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 we need to learn from our experiences.
I live in a very small town, so it’s relatively quick and easy for me to get to places around town. So, in my mind, I’m always thinking that if I give myself a five-minute cushion, I’ll make it where I need to in plenty of time, and with time to spare. However, this town is also a train town, in that there are several train tracks crossing through town in different places. Because of this, I have been caught by trains on several occasions, which has caused me to be unexpectedly late. But now I know that there is always a possibility that this will happen, because of where I live, and so it is my responsibility to take that into account.
The first time it happened was the first night we were in our home. We had just moved in and were unpacking, and we didn’t have any groceries yet, so I ordered pizza for dinner. The app told me when the pizza would be ready, so I left with plenty of time to be there to pick it up. But, of course, I was interrupted by a train that was stopped on the tracks. Apparently, as a train town, it is also a place where trains add to their load, which means sometimes they stop for 5 to 10 minutes while you sit and wait. And that’s what happened to me.
I can remember my dad telling me, “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” But I did not learn from that experience, and a few weeks later, a train was stopped on the tracks and made me late again. Believe it or not, it happened again a few weeks after that. At this point, I now know that it is always a possibility that I will be stopped by a train, so if I don’t take that into account, it’s my fault, and I have to accept and manage the consequences.
This is a great reminder for our practice of leadership. We cannot always anticipate the obstacles and issues coming down the road (who was rehearsing a pandemic response in their crisis management plan in 2019?), but we can learn from the experience when something happens. If it takes you by surprise, or it is not something that you have not had to navigate before, you need to pay attention, try to understand it, and learn from it so that you can get better. If you don’t learn from the experience, it becomes your own fault for being unprepared when something similar happens again. I have often told my own children, “You learn most things by experience, but it’s usually less painful if it’s someone else’s experience.” In cases like this, however, you are learning from your own experience, and it’s probably a little painful. But you still need to learn from it.
So, a leadership lesson from this little thing in life, from being stopped by a train, is a valuable one. Very simply, learn from your experiences. If something completely unexpected happens, over which you had no control (and even though it is your leadership responsibility to respond well), it is not your fault that it happened. The next time, however, if you are not prepared, then the consequences belong to you. Learn from your experiences and be prepared the next time.
