Best Buy: With Her in Mind

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Over the past several years, I’ve found a new hobby. Hiking. When my husband and I go on vacation, we invariably find ourselves on some kind of exploration that just seems to happen.  The most recent accidental hike was in Yosemite. We were going on a 30 minute hike to a waterfall and back, before exploring other areas of the Park. When we got to the waterfall, we looked up and saw another waterfall that looked interesting. So we just decided to keep going. When we got to the next one, we heard about another interesting view up ahead, so we went on yet again, climbing. And I’m so glad we did. We saw amazing things during the next 3 hours. Stopping occasionally along the way to take pictures, enjoy the view and catch our breath. Quite by accident we experienced the thrills and challenges of “going to the top”.

I kept thinking about how much harder this climb would have been without a path. I do a lot of thinking while I’m hiking. Probably because I’m also climbing and too out of breath to carry on a conversation. The path was well worn from decades of literally thousands of hikers and climbers. As we were on our way up the mountain, at 10 in the morning, we shared the path with scores of people on their way down, having hiked all through the night up to Half Dome some 13 miles above the highest peak we reached that day.

At the top, we took in the sights, sounds and smells of the mountain air, dipped hot and tired feet into the cold, crystal-clear water, and nibbled on the few snacks we’d brought with us. While we rested, I couldn’t help but marvel at how we started out the day with one plan and ended up somewhere entirely different.  I was reminded of the saying “if you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll probably end up somewhere else.”

The same is true of leadership and what I’ve learned through JJ in this program and why knowing yourself is so important by asking “Where do I WANT to go?”  HOW do I want to be? WHO do I want to be? Spending time answering these questions helps us shape our Leadership Ideal.  They help us target the work at the outcomes we want to achieve.  Otherwise, we’re on a hike without knowing our true destination. And while you might see some great things along the way, it’s all really accidental – instead of purposeful.

There’s certainly no shame in taking a path someone else has forged. But when it comes to leadership, it’s important to have a clearly defined path of your own.  Otherwise you may wake up one morning and ask, “How did I get here?” Bill George, author of “True North”, wrote an article on the subject that might be worth your attention “Why Leaders Lose Their Way”.

Someday I’d like to go back to Yosemite – ideally in the late spring to experience the fullness of Yosemite Falls. While I’m there, maybe I’ll hike up to Half Dome. If I do, you can guarantee, that journey won’t be by accident.