In my business days, "Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way" was the way we thought, the way I thought, about how to proceed. That has changed over the years, and now I think of it more in terms of "Lead, Follow, and Go Along With." Not nearly as snappy sounding but very much more in keeping with my own understanding of what a good leader can and should do. The "and" is so very important, since a good leader knows that she must be adept at all three postures to succeed.
This morning I had a very good physical example of what all of this means. I was erging with my teammates. We had decided to row a particular rate per minute, and while we each have a monitor to tell us how fast we are going, the usual thing is to give in and let one person do the leading. This morning I found myself between Liz, who was a hair slow, and Kim, who was a hair fast. So right from the very beginning I realized I needed to choose....either to try and lead (didn't work) or to follow one or the other of my teammates...that is, go along with and ignore my monitor completely.
I had a very satisfying workout, but I found myself switching back and forth: following Liz one moment, and Kim the next. Usually this kind of decision making makes me crazy...I want to follow or lead and not have to keep deciding. But grace this morning gave me a lot of patience, and so I did a variety of different things and all to the same effect: we got the work done.
Lead, follow, and go along with...I"m liking the sound better and better!
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