Friends,
Today's lighthearted reflection begins with a story. I was sitting almost directly beneath my wife as she delivered the State of the State speech last week. Jack, our 9 year old son was next to me and our girls were next to him. We rose in standing ovation from time to time as we felt - as much as saw - the crowd about us rising to welcome a particularly good line or powerful point. Proud of my wife. Proud of their mom. Happy to support her.
About halfway into the speech, amidst the policy meat and potatoes, Jennifer delivered a line about how she will create a crash program to train 500 nurse trainers, who in turn will train 3,000 new nurses. For some reason, unbeknownst to us, Jack vaulted to his feet, clapping thunderously. I glanced at him, amused. One of his sisters did what siblings do at times like this, saying, "Jack, what are you doing standing up? You're the only one standing."
He stole quick glances, realized he was having an "emperor's new clothes moment" and slid back down into his chair. Just as he was sinking though, I was rising as were many folks around me. Some might have arisen because they were hospital advocates or fired up about this program to retrain workers, but I'm pretty sure most of us were rising to give Jack some cover. It felt like the strange, silent movement of a herd encircling a brash young one who'd ventured out past the herd's safe boundaries.
In the car, we joked about it. Jack's very good natured and took the ribbing with grace and laughter. With apologies for my need to find a lesson in -- well, just about everything -- I told Jack and his sisters: hey, that's what leaders do. They stand up. And I pointed out to them that that's what followers do, too: they stand. People are impressed with courage and independence and they will rise, even if they're not so fired up about something, but just because a leader cares so much.
We're still trying to figure out just what lit Jack's fuse, but in the meantime we're thanking him for a good laugh and a live example of the courage to
Lead with your best self,
Dan
Dan Mulhern
p.s. If you enjoyed last week's RFL on cultivating awareness to lead well, be sure to check out the blogsite. There were lots of very insightful comments that taught me a lot about "yesitis" and similar topics. You can click here to read and comment.
"Seeing the magnificence in all people -- dedicated to their fullest success."
Copyright 2007 Daniel Mulhern. I distribute RFL without charge to people with an interest in leadership, and grant permission to these recipients to distribute copies of these works to personal contacts for non-commercial purposes only. All other rights are reserved, and requests for copying and distribution of these works may be made to FirstGentleman@Michigan.gov. The views of this and other RFLs reflect my personal beliefs and may or may not reflect the views of my wife, Jennifer Granholm, or any other officials of the State government.
Invite your friends and families to subscribe to the First Gentleman's weekly e-newsletter called Reading For Leading, on the challenges of leadership at home, work and in life. You can subscribe by sending your request to: FirstGentleman@Michigan.Gov or visiting www.DanMulhern.com.
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