By Brian Altman, Vice President of Leadership Development
Over the past few years, I‘ve taken up mountain biking. Arizona offers so much for outdoor enthusiasts, but the summer’s triple-digit temperatures have even the most physically fit wishing they were somewhere cooler. So to get out of the heat, my family and I decided to trek up to Crested Butte, Colorado, for the July 4th holiday.
During our stay in Crested Butte, I had a great opportunity to spend half a day with Dave Wiens. Dave is a legend in mountain biking who beat Lance Armstrong in the Leadville 100 race several years ago. He’s listed in the Top 25 Most Influential People in the sport by Mountain Bike Magazine.
The day of our ride, we woke up early and met Dave. Dave told us we were riding the Snodgrass Trail, a beautiful single track through several miles of Aspen trees. But to get there, you have to climb a long steep trail. So off we went. We were all pedaling side by side. . .until the steep part. It was then that an amazing thing happened. As Dave looked back at us 50 yards behind him and gasping, he stopped, observed us, encouraged us, and waited until we caught up to him.
After asking how we thought we were doing, he began coaching us by providing pointers on reading the trail to make us more efficient in our climb. We soaked up every word, got back on our bikes, acted on his instructions, and continued the climb. He stopped often during our ride to observe, instruct, and encourage us. Sometimes he led. Other times he allowed us to take the lead. By the end of the trail, my confidence grew, allowing me to close the gap on a legend and eventually keep pace with him. It was an amazing experience.
Andy Stanley, in his book The Next Generation Leader, says great Leaders are present and perform alongside the people they lead in order to “close the gap” between followers’ potential and their performance. Like Dave, great Leaders accomplish this in three ways:
- Great Leaders Observe. As Leaders, we have a tendency to measure ourselves against other Leaders we observe around us. The great Leaders around us become our point of reference of what great leadership is. It happened while we were riding with Dave Wiens. To help us perform our best, Dave was there observing, instructing, and encouraging us to reach to the top of the mountain. He was there alongside us, riding with us. It’s the same with our leadership in FreeLife. Like the legendary mountain biker, great FreeLife Leaders recognize their presence is needed during the ride. Why? Because great Leaders desire to observe what’s happening to be more effective in leading their Teams to the top of the mountain.
- Great Leaders Instruct. As Leaders in FreeLife, we are not responsible for knowing everything there is to know all the time. However, we are responsible for keeping our head in the game and learning what we should, just as Dave shared his knowledge with us. Showing up at Breakthrough 2011 is your responsibility to your Team because it enables you to learn about the most amazing news in the history of FreeLife. But learning the news is half the equation. The other half requires us to share the news with our Leaders. When we learn and share the news, we exercise our responsibility as Leaders. Learning allows us to instruct, giving everyone on our Team the chance to put into action what they heard, just as Dave did when he taught us how to traverse Snodgrass Trail. We all became better that day.
- Great Leaders Inspire. Like Dave, great Leaders see the potential in others. Even though Dave knew that he was much better on the mountain then we were, he stopped often to inspire us and tell us how great we would feel when we completed the trail. In FreeLife, great Leaders point us toward the trail, tell us how great the ride will be, and inspire us to do everything in our power to succeed. They bring out our great potential by inspiring us to become the best we can be, regardless of talent level.
As Leaders in FreeLife, we owe it to those who follow us to observe, instruct, and inspire them so they can close the gap between their performance and their potential for great success. We have a magnificent ride ahead of us. We can’t wait to see you at Breakthrough. God bless.
