Lessons Learned

I love my job because I am empowered to pass on some of learnings that I’ve been lucky enough to come across through my life thus far. As a leader in business, I understand that one of my most important responsibilities is to groom the next generation of business leaders. Anyone spending enough time reading books on leadership, listening to dynamic speakers, or working through an MBA program can bring myriad quotes and logic to the ‘growth and development’ table, but I love my job because I coat those items with a flavor of my own past.

In the timeline of my lessons learned, one of the earliest came when I was around eleven years old. I was one-fifth of a team entering the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals in Michigan. We had made it through many levels of competition to get this honor, and like most of the attendees, we celebrated a lot while staying on campus at CMU. The night before the awards ceremony, virtually all the kids there stayed up through the night. The next morning, on our way to the ceremony, my level of engagement and mood reflected this; I was a disaster. Our team sponsor, our chorus teacher, pulled me aside and said, “I know you guys stayed up all night, and I know that you’re tired and crabby, but you have the ability to decide to change your attitude and make the most of this. Just think about it.” And she walked away. I stood there alone and angry for a long moment before realizing just how right she was. Despite the exhaustion, I put on a smile and made myself a part of the joy around me. It’s easy to feel stuck in a situation, a mood, a state of mind, but you aren’t. You can choose to experience and interact with the world around you in the way that works best. Try it, you’ll be surprised.

Another of my impacted moments in life, like so many of them, happened without my noticing. Memories and reflection allowed for the valuable lesson to make its way into my leadership repertoire. I was maybe twelve years of age and spending the afternoon with a friend at his home. We had run around and worn ourselves out before flopping onto a large hammock and chatting away the day. The conversation took a turn to the important question, “If you could have any superpower at all, what would you choose?” I have no idea what my response was, but once invisibility, super strength, or flying were out of the way, my afternoon chum shared his. His response was simple, “I’d have the ability to change people’s minds.” We discussed the value of such a superpower, then moved on to something else. Many years later, in an epiphanic moment while driving across country, I thought of this. He was right, that is the most substantial superpower ever. And while science and technology might make some other superpowers achievable, this one was and is real. We get to have this now if we want it – holy smokes, Batman!

The third and final moment in my early timeline of lessons learned came in yet another unexpected place. A couple friends and I had the good fortune to take six weeks and explore the United States while making our way from Charleston, SC to San Francisco, CA. We were barely old enough to drink, had a few dollars in the bank, and everything we needed jammed into an early-90’s Chevy Blazer. The moment in question came about a month into our adventures when we went on a waterfall hike in Yellowstone National Park. The Park Service had placed about 200 steps on the trail to better manage erosion, and we were all equally shocked to see hundreds of cigarette butts distributed there. After enjoying the views at the end of the trail, we started our way back up those steps to clear the area for a young family that was visiting as well. On the hike up, we each collected as many of these cigarettes from the stairs that we could hold until our hands were overflowing. Upon reaching the top of the climb, we disposed of what we had in a trashcan, then looked back and realized that the two young children with their parents had started picking up the trash where we left off. It was a simple moment, but one that never left me. We often forget that people do watch how we act, what we do, the words we choose. We often forget that these things matter, and that the impressions we leave on others become the catalysts for both the good and the bad of the future.

I love my job because I have a captive audience to hear these and many other stories that I share passionately. I love my job because in sharing these lessons learned with others, I am reminded of the actions and behaviors that make a difference. I love that through these discussions I know deeply that I can control how I interact with the world, and that I am never truly trapped in emotion or negativity. I love that with my eyes open, I can be a human superhero each day. I love that I am reminded of how my actions impact those that I don’t even know are watching. But most of all, I love that perhaps one of these things that I share so often might make a difference to someone else, and because of this, I will never fail.