A Leadership Lesson from Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer
Rudolph was a treasure waiting to be discovered.
Irritants become advantages in the right situation.
My impatience irritates a person on my team. (It probably irritates lots of people.) I’ll call him Mr. Compassion. In a morning meeting, we decided to ask a TV News Caster to interview someone.
Red noses:
Mr. Compassion doesn’t want people to feel uncomfortable. He finds it difficult to ask someone to do something difficult. Sometimes, he lets people off the hook before he even throws it.
His “red nose” – his compassion – drives me crazy. Guess what? I drive him crazy too.
Morning meeting:
It was 7:30 a.m. when we decided to see if our News Caster friend would interview someone. At 7:31 a.m., I was dialing my phone to talk with her. Mr. Compassion told me that he cringed when I dialed. The News Caster isn’t a morning person.
I want to get-er-done and move on. Mr. Compassion thinks about how people feel. Go figure!
I’m a glaring red nose in his life and he’s a blinking beakin’ in mine. I need some compassionate patience. He needs some get-er-done. He’s a treasure to me. I’m a treasure to him.
Maximize strength – avoid frustration:
If you need to challenge someone to step up to the plate in a new way, I’m your person. Hand-holding, on the other hand, isn’t my thing. I get impatient and miss opportunities by writing people off.
If I need to give someone a second change, I need to invite Mr. Compassion into my life.
- How would you handle this?
- What would you say? (I need to hear the exact words.)
- What does this person need to hear?
The thing that makes you different, may be your greatest contribution.
What type of person best compliments your strength?
How might leaders bring different skill sets together?
You bring up Rudolph so I thought to share some thoughts about Santa and his team. This is a soon to be illustrated and published poem about making improvements, about irritants and the impetus for change:
We’re now thinking of Santa, his Elves and his Reindeer
And how their Square Wheels make their trip less clear:
Those Square Wheels exist everywhere, you’ll see,
But the Round Wheels are in reach—ab-so-lute-ly!
Santa should ask his teams to stop & look in their wagon
As solutions are likely there that’ll keep it from draggin’.
His Asking and Listening is a sure way to generate
Engagement and motivation for them to innovate!
Then the Elves and Reindeer could quite easily share
Their ideas for how things could work better there.
Their Round Wheel thinking will give them insight
into how to implement to make things quite right
Then all can gleefully rejoice as Christmas time arrives
Knowing their Round Wheel ideas got Santa in the skies!
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!
Thanks Dr. Scott. Your comment is the best and I don’t jest! Cheers
I accept your cheer. Have a Happy New Year!
Nice reminder that it does take a team to pull the sleigh, each with our own contribution.
Thanks Linda. Too fun with the sleigh metaphor! 🙂
You guys slay me!
Love this analogy. In the spirit of further developing out leadership based on examples from the North Pole:
“Servant Leadership Explained Through Rudolph and Santa”: http://modernservantleader.com/servant-leadership/servant-leadership-explained-via-santa-the-bad-boss-and-rudolph-the-servant-leader/
Thanks Ben. Great seeing you here. Thanks for extending the conversation.