6 Leadership Lessons from Building a Camper
6 Leadership Lessons from Building a Camper
“Belief in what someone can do is more powerful than knowledge of what they can do.”
This is a quote from my friend and colleague Dr. Lee Meadows. I read it and chuckled as I thought about a significant accomplishment on the part of my niece, Carolyn DesJardin.
As a millennial, military spouse, mother of two preschoolers and federal security project manager, she embarked on an ambitious project last summer while in the throes of the pandemic. She decided to build a camper. Never mind that she had zero experience in anything associated with doing this. She needed a COVID-19 safe project to work on and wanted to start camping again, something she and her husband had put on hold after the kids came along. It was also a decision to regain a measure of control over her family’s ability to move about. So, she researched the idea and purchased a 30-year-old pop-up camper, tore it down to the frame and rebuilt it using wood and fiberglass, with a pop top, and outfitted with a queen and bunk beds. She calls it a super tent on wheels. (more…)
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Quick quiz for everyone!
Imagine that you’ve just been promoted to lead your first team. Some of you will have to reach back in your memory bank to think about this. Others are looking forward to that moment, with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation. Because until you sit in that chair, you don’t quite know what it’s going to be like.
Think back a few years to when you were in elementary, middle, or high school. The dynamics of navigating the playground and hanging out around school was often just as much of a challenge as mastering your classes. Sure, for some it seemed easy, but for others it was fraught with social stress of making friends, keeping friends, avoiding bullies, trying to be the bully, finding acceptance, and developing trusting relationships.
Imagine you’re walking along the beach. In the distance you see storm clouds gathering, the sky darkening. The sun slowly becomes unrecognizable behind the thick cover overhead. The waves rushing onto shore become increasingly more powerful, as they push further into the sand, washing away the designs and formations made by beachgoers earlier in the day. The lifeguards beckon swimmers out of the water because they know the undercurrent is stronger and the sea is dangerous. Umbrellas and beach chairs are stacked up and tied down. Meanwhile the sand is pushed in and out by the waves, back and forth in unpredictable patterns.
The sound of her watch alarm abruptly awakened Carol from a deep sleep. It was January 2nd and she was already focused on how she would address her leadership team when they returned to work in a few days. Thoughts had been swirling in her mind over the two-week holiday break. 
Even though most of us haven’t been flying much in the past eight months, we’re all familiar with the safety guidelines shared by flight attendants before an airplane takes off. In the event of an emergency where supplemental oxygen is needed, a mask will drop from the overhead cabin. You should put on your own mask before helping children, the disabled, or anyone needing assistance. And know that the oxygen is flowing, even if the plastic bag doesn’t inflate.
We’re in a time where leaders must determine the role that they want to play in advancing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in their companies. Events over the past six months, including the senseless killings of Black people, the stories that many people of all races have shared about their experiences, and social unrest impacting all facets of our lives, have once again brought this issue to the forefront of our consciousness. I say, “once again”, because it’s nothing new, it’s been cyclical in our nation’s history, yet it’s reached a new level of awareness. 
Imagine taking a trip to Niagara Falls, New York, observing the beauty and power of the rushing water, as you peer through the mist to see across the international border. You could be surrounded by other tourists, wearing rain ponchos as protection from the water spray, and taking pictures of the rock formations surrounding it. But what if you instead, stepped onto a wire two inches in diameter, strung 1500 feet from one side to the other, and step by step crossed onto the other side? 
Amsterdam is crumbling. The capital city of the Netherlands known for its winding canals, historic buildings and beautiful museums is suffering from cracks and sinkholes along its waterways. It was built between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries on a marshland by driving wooden stakes deep into the ground to provide a steady foundation upon which to construct the buildings. While newer buildings were set on concrete foundations, a significant portion of the city remains atop the historic stakes, whose age and quality have caused multistory houses to lean.