The Leading Edge: One Adventure, Three People, Three Actions and Three Leadership Lessons
By: Meenakshi Sundaram Hariharan
Life can take us to a dizzying height and push us to the edge of the cliff with no other option but to take that plunge. Those are the times we ask ourselves the pertinent question:
“What have I done to myself? Am I stupid?”
It all started with the planning exercise for our annual vacation. My wife and my son chose adventure over history. One such adventure was the zip line. I checked the videos of people taking the plunge on the zip line. It looked scintillating and simple. I agreed.
This zip line adventure was part of the cruise destination in a place called Harvest Caye Island in Belize. The day started off with a brilliantly radiating sunlight. The sea was clear and showed no signs of the storm that just passed by. We walked past the beach and reached the building built in the style of an old lighthouse which they called “flight house.”
The mightiness of the situation hit me when our turn came. My son looked at me and said, “Dad, you go first.” I turned to see my wife, who happily said, “You go first, he will go second and I will come third.” Not that she was afraid. I looked down from the top, and the fear gripped all over my body. To say that I was scared would be an understatement. I slowly took a few steps back. My idea of quitting stopped when I saw the fear in me reflecting in my son’s eyes.
For a moment, I thought, “Is this the message I am going to leave him with? Is this how I want this to end? Is this how I want to be remembered: The man who quit the zip line adventure and inspired his son to quit?”
My wife held my hands and said, “You can do it.”
I took the zip line. The view from the top was beautiful. The scenic beauty of the mountains of Belize on one side and the majestic beauty of the Atlantic on all the other sides took my breath away. The initial fear diminished and finally vanished when I completed all the lines.
I am more than happy that I took that plunge which also left me with leadership lessons.
Lesson One: Leaders push the team.
My wife decided to stay back to motivate us to take the plunge.
Leaders motivate and push the team to perform to their potential. I was not pushing myself and was trying to hide my fears. She could have taken the plunge first and left both of us struggling with our fear, and she knew that. I learned from my wife that leaders should know the fear in their people, how that fear is pulling them down from reaching their potential and how to motivate them to overcome the fear to reach the potential.
Lesson Two: Leaders lead by their action.
Leaders inspire the team by taking the plunge. They inspire the team to go with them by their actions. Mahatma Gandhi did the same when he took to the street to launch salt revolution. He was the first to start the walk towards sea. Slowly but steadily, his action inspired more people to join him. The rest is history. Sometimes leaders take this action despite the fear and uncertainty surrounding the action. I showed to my son that it was going to be fun to take that plunge, and he followed suit. Leaders take the plunge despite their fears to inspire the team.
Lesson Three: Leaders follow the Law of Process.
That day when we returned to the ship, my son went directly to the zip line in the ship. He enjoyed the thrill and made it a part of his daily routine for the next few days. Zip lining became a hobby for him.
The lesson I learned from my son is the power of the Law of Process. Leaders develop processes to repeat successes. They internalize the success by initiating a process. The Law of Process creates more success, and, finally, success becomes a habit. I showed my son to overcome the fear of the zip line and enjoy the view. He showed me the strength of the Law of Process.
The zip line adventure was meant to overcome fear, but it lead me to three valuable leadership lessons – Leaders motivate the team to overcome fear to reach their potential, leaders push their team to reach their potential and leaders enlist the Law of Process to repeat the success. In life, when you come across such situations where fear grips you, go ahead and take the plunge, as you never know how much you will gain from it!
Meenakshi Sundaram Hariharan is a John Maxwell Team Certified Trainer and Coach. Meenakshi joined the team in August 2016 and received his certification in August 2017. He is also a Chartered Accountant and Management Accountant by qualification, and is presently heading Finance, HR and Training in Business International Group in Bahrain in addition to heading “Ace Training SPC.”
He has been conducting public speaking and personality development classes for youth leaders for the last 10 years. He is also an active Toastmaster.
During the year 2014-15, he held the position of Chairman of the Bahrain Chapter of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. This is a professional body with more than 450 members in Bahrain.
His life goal is the value principle of JMT – adding value to the people he encounters.