5 Realities Of Leadership

I remember taking my daughter on her first rollercoaster ride!  As you can imagine it was quite a memorable experience for all.  After taking the ride and making that memory together, I began to think about what leaders can learn from rollercoasters.  Trust me!  It will be worth the read.

The following are 5 Realities Of Leadership:

1. You have to pay a price to ride the rollercoaster.  Leaders, there is an upfront price that you must pay in order to lead.  In addition, you must continually keep paying a price if you wish to keep leading.
2. There is always a long line to ride the rollercoaster.  Leaders, don’t get too overconfident regarding your importance.  If you think the organization cannot go on without you, remember there is always a long line of people who would like your seat.
3. The learning curve is often vertical.  Rollercoasters take you up a steep incline at the beginning of the ride to gain speed.  Leaders, in today’s world, the learning curve is a straight up because organizations demand immediate results. 
4. The track has many ups and downs, hard turns, and is often bumpy.  Leaders, I don’t have to tell you that leadership is not always easy. Take comfort, if the path were smooth and straight, there would not be a need for leaders.
5. When the ride is over, you can wait to do it again!  Does that say it all for leaders or what?!  As fast, bumpy, and out of control as things can seem to get, we wouldn’t trade it for anything.

The exhilaration of accomplishing an assignment with others, the terror, the screaming, the laughter, the raising of your hands, and the wind blowing in your face.  It’s all part of rollercoasters and it’s all part of leadership.  Would you rather do anything else?!

Also, it was a memory my daughter and I will never forget.  I have long forgotten the price I paid for us to ride the rollercoaster together.  I’ll never forget, however, how much I received in return.  Leadership is exactly the same way.

Leaders, what was a huge price you paid that was worth every penny?

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