Sometimes The Obvious Is Not So Easy

Leadership Is Permanent

I know I am not perfect.  I was not made perfect.  I fail to operate perfectly.  It is something that is and will forever remain consistent in my human life.  I will forever live an imperfect life.  Guess what?  That process is exactly the same process you get to manage in your life.  You have exactly the same kind of afflictions running parallel to the processed patterns you manage in your life.  You, also, are not perfect.  This truth is a fact that is placed along side every single one of us human beings.  We are not and will never be perfect people.  Quit pretending this is not true.  We all know the truth.  Face it, admit it and move on.  Sometimes the obvious is not so easy.

I have had rotten things in my life occur.  I have generated rotten things to occur in my life.  Sometimes I have been innocent and sometimes I am as guilty as they come.  Bad things happen.  Some of those really bad things are not so easy to deal with and can become bigger thorns than we care to expose.  I think we all would be amazed at what dark secrets everyone finds worth hiding inside the soul of our own minds.  Some of those dark secrets would be very embarrassing to us if they were ever to come out.  We all have them.  Sometimes the obvious is not so easy.

If you lead people in any capacity, you have made the decision to manage a strong relationship with the right to manage higher levels of responsibility.  Certain levels of responsibility come with the territory of leadership.  When you decide to become a leader in any form, you decide to accept this truth.  Sometimes the obvious is not so easy to accept.  Just because it is not so easy to accept does not mean you get to ignore its truth.  Nobody is immune to the written and unwritten rules of leadership.  Those rules come with the territory.  We will be held to the standards those rules deliver.  That will happen with or without our compliance.  Leadership comes with a price.  Leaders either pay that price or suffer.  Sometimes the obvious is not so easy.

I have sat on the 'hot' seat many times in my life.  I can tell you it is not a very comfortable seat to enjoy.  I hate it.  I refuse to sit on it for fun.  I am a tough personality but I do not like the 'hot' seat very much.  The 'hot' seat can wreck lives.  It can destroy people and ruin their public personalities.  It can eat away at the most very private sections in their protected personal lives.  Mistakes that become serious mistakes, the ones that wick off the general public at high levels are the mistakes that can do this kind of damage.  Leaders have a serious responsibility to refrain from making mistakes of this nature.  Big public mistakes are the ones they must refrain from stepping into.  Unfortunately, sometimes the obvious is not so easy to do.  We may be leaders but we are still human beings.  We have our own set of weaknesses we still manage to overcome.  We are not perfect people.  Sometimes the obvious is not so easy to do.

Business ownership includes leadership.  When we decide to go into business for ourselves, we decide to accept the rules of the road that leadership brings.  We may not fully understand that process but we become part of its truth with or without our approval.  We will be held to higher standards of life performance.  Welcome to leadership.  It comes with the territory.  That is what leadership brings.  Sometimes the obvious is not so easy.  True leadership hurts.  True leadership can destroy lives.  It damages careers.  It burns people out.  It destroys relationships.  True leadership, as in the military and public safety, can result in death.  Leadership has with it some very tall responsibilities.  I did not write these rules.  I just know what they are.  I lead in my business world.  That is how I am wired.  I do not misunderstand what high levels of responsibility I accept by the very nature of the things I do.  That is why I must keep reminding myself how to act, how to lead and how to treat the people around me.  Even though I am not a perfect soul, I must keep thinking and reminding myself how my actions will affect the others I pass by.  That is exactly how leadership works.  If you own a business, you have the very exact same level of responsibilities in your leadership patterns.  Whether you like it or not, you must accept these rules of the leadership road.  Sometimes the obvious is not so easy to do.

Joe Paterno, you must do the right thing.  It is the part of our lives that leaders hate to face.  Sometimes the obvious is not so easy.  Leaders want to duck out of the light when the light gets real ugly.  Guess what?  So do I.  Sometimes the obvious is not so easy.  Doing the next right thing is all about becoming a very good and strong leader.  It is not about protecting who you are.  That kind of effort is not on the top of the list when a leader is faced with the 'hot' seats of life.  Nobody cares about how much the price of leadership hurts the leader when something publicly wrong hits the surface of view.  We all expect the leaders to do the next right thing.  That is exactly how leadership works.  That is exactly why we call it the way we see it.  We hold our leaders to higher standards than we would ever expect from ourselves.  We define each pattern of life differently.  Leaders are the ones who lead a different life.  They must pay a higher price, in our view.  That is why we call it the "price of leadership."  It carries a high price.  Sometimes the obvious is not so easy.

Leadership Carries A Perpetual Price

Yesterday I met a man who was approaching ninety five years old.  I actually came by him twice in the same day.  The first time I saw him he was talking to a business associate.  I had my back turned away from them.  I heard the two talking.  I was busy doing something else that required my attention so I did not turn around to see who he was.  I only heard him.  I have a high school classmate that had some cancer removed from his mouth a few years ago.  We visited him in the hospital several times during his series of operations.  They cut a good portion of his tongue out.  He has been practicing how to speak again.  His name is Ryan.  Ryan has a distinctive speech that is totally recognizable.  His lack of ability to use his tongue has developed a uniquely obvious speech of sounds.  If you do not spend a lot of time listening to Ryan speak, you will discover how hard it is to understand what he is saying.  The inflection of his words are not the same as the ones we use to communicate speech.  The sounds are hard to identify.

Ryan also has another serious challenge to over come.  Those who do not know him hear him speak and think he is mentally challenged.  Ryan is a bright accountant.  He has a decorated college career certified on the walls of his office.  Ryan is only missing a large portion of his tongue.  Sometimes the obvious is not so easy.  Ryan has had to learn how to put up with mothers pulling their children away from him when he is speaking to someone in a grocery store.  Too many people think Ryan sounds like he is not all there.  Strangers have enough 'hidden' fears to move away from him if they do not know why he speaks the way he does.  Ryan has grown used to this treatment.  Sometimes the obvious is not so easy.

This ninety five year old man I met yesterday began to speak to my associate.  I had my back turned the other way.  I heard a voice that sounded just like Ryan speaking.  In fact, I thought immediately that it was Ryan.  I turned for a quick moment to see if it was him.  It was not.  It was an old guy trying to describe something to my associate.  Fortunately, my associate knew this man.  He was treating him with respect and trying to help this man solve the problem he was trying to over come with his kitchen sink at home.  The conversation was priceless.  Sometimes the obvious is not so easy.  I felt like stepping in because I could understand much of what the old guy was saying as my associate tried hard to have the old guy repeat a few things that were not easy to understand.  I have had some previous experience learning this tongueless language.  I tried to complete the work I was doing for another customer so I could hurry up and step in to help them communicate better.  I missed that window.  The old guy left before I could come back to join them.  I did not say anything about the experience to anyone.

A couple of hours later, there in the entryway of our store was that same old guy.  He was returning to get more help on the challenge he was having with his sink.  I was glad to see him.  I stepped up and introduced myself.  I told him the first time he came in to the store earlier that day I thought he was my friend, Ryan.  I asked him, "How much of your tongue have you lost?"  We shared stories.  I told him about Ryan and he told me about his World War II prison camp 'ugly ordeal' that cost him his tongue.  It took me awhile to pick up on his inflection for our language but he understood why I kept asking him to repeat a few words so I could manage to hear correctly what he was saying.  He was patient with me.  Sometimes the obvious is not so easy.

A Chinese stronghold hung him by his tongue in that prison camp.  He went to some tiny little tears to describe it to me.  He said he almost bled to death from the experience.  He and 128 other American military men were performing a mission when they got captured and thrown into that prison camp.  Two survived.  He and another man in Iowa, who has since passed away, survived the 'ugly ordeal.'  He also asked me if I would like to see the wounds of his bullet holes.  I agreed.  One on his back, one on his neck and one on his left foot.  He was left for dead in a pool of blood and a pile of feces and urine where the latrines were emptied at the camp.  A bulldozer scooped him up and dumped the whole mess into a waiting truck to transport to another sight away from the prison camp.  He and the second survivor were lifted into that load.  Sometimes the obvious is not so easy.  His tears told me the real story.  He was a young leader at one time.  He was trying to lead our nation through some trying times.  The price for his leadership was and is very large.  In fact, he is still paying for it nearly seventy years later.  Sometimes the obvious is not so easy.

If you own a small business, lead one in some way or have any sense of leadership role you play...you have some prices to pay.  You must learn how to accept what those prices deliver.  They will not always be fair with you.  Those prices will not care about who you are, what you believe nor when you will need to rise above the ugly things you will face.  You will only know the truth about true leadership.  You will need to do the next right thing.  We will expect it of you.  We will hold you to it.  We will be terribly disappointed with you if you fail to make the right choice.  What's more, we will never accept you if you choose to duck from the truth and try to hide away from what you should have done.  Sometimes the obvious is not so easy.

Leaders carry a monster burden.  Leaders truly know this truth.  Some of those leaders will need to play some very ugly music to get over what the price has decided was to become a part of the lives they lead.  I hate this part of leadership.  I have had my share of these kinds of rotten experiences.  They are not always fair.  That does not mean we must duck out and hide from them.  They will not go away kindly.  Leaders must do what they do best, they must lead the way.  Joe Paterno must stand up and lead the way.  It is not a fun place to manage.  I do not know which way I would go.  I know for sure that I would need to resolve that issue with my Lord.  I would also know that I would need to make sure my leadership stays in tact.  I would lead and I would not delay how I lead.  They may not like what my leadership would do, but I would lead.  Sometimes the obvious is not so easy.

I tried to put the old guys shoes on.  I tried to picture what my life would be if I were in his shoes.  I cannot imagine what he has had to endure.  Sometimes the obvious is not so easy.

Until next time...