My son graduated from college last month. It was a glorious day for graduates and parents alike. I broke into tears when I hugged my son after the ceremony. The pride swelled within me. I couldn’t shut it off.
The college made the entire ceremony quite emotional. There was a young woman that was met on stage by her younger brother who had returned from U.S. Marine duty the night before. She hadn’t seen him in sixteen months. The young man was dressed in his class A uniform and hugged her for an eternity. The audience roared with applause and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
The college announced that one of the senior class died in February. Because she completed enough course work, the college was going to award her a diploma. The girl’s parents went on stage to accept the diploma in her honor. The audience roared with applause and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
The college introduced the top two scholars of the class; one young man studied business and one young lady studied nursing. It was announced that both earned perfect 4.0 grade point averages for their entire college career. The audience roared with applause. I thought differently. I thought that these two students may not have gotten a single answer wrong for the past four years. They must have studied intensely to achieve their level of perfection. Four years without a mistake.
But, how does one learn from their mistakes if they don’t make any.
Welcome to Swimming in the Flood; a podcast where we develop the resilient leader’s mindset by navigating difficult currents in business. My name is Trent Theroux.
I wonder what risks they took during their college career. Did the business student study the arts, did the nursing student study humanities? Courses and teaching that are somewhat antithetical to their prescribed path to matriculation.
Research published in Cognitive Development, scientists found that teenagers took more risks than any other age group. This probably isn’t a shock for you. Just remember back to your teenage years. Quick show of hands. How many things did you and your buddies do that today you would say, “That was plain stupid?” My magic mirror shows me that every single one of you have your hands up.
Dr. Stephanie Burnett wrote, “The reasons that teenagers take risks is not a problem with foreseeing the consequences. It was more because they chose to take the risks.” Decades later, I ask myself where the risk taker I was is.
I admire risk takers. I admire people who bet on themselves. People that bet all their money on the Jeopardy daily double versus the mousey, “I’ll wager $1,000, Alex.” One risk taker that I admire is Sara Blakely. Maybe you know the name. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that if you know the name you are most likely a woman. Sara Blakely is the founder of Spanx and is a billionaire.
For those men that don’t know about Sara Blakely, here is a little primer. Going out for a party and bought a new pair of cream pants. She didn’t want panty lines to ruin the pant look and she wanted to wear open toe shoes, so pantyhose was out of the equation. Sara ended up taking a pair of panty hose and cutting the feet out. This served both the need for an open toe shoe and eliminated panty lines. And, according to Sara, “I looked great. I looked fabulous. I looked thinner and smoother, but they rolled up my legs all night.”
Then, Sara thought, “This should exist for all women.” And, Spanx got started. Well…it took years. Sara had $5,000 in the bank to start this venture. Her travels led her to Atlanta to find a patent attorney, North Carolina to find a manufacturer. Oh, there’s this, Sara never took a single business class in her life. She was selling fax machines door-to-door to make a living. We are talking a serious risk taker!
As you know, the story turns out well for Sara. She revolutionizes the women’s undergarment market and becomes a billionaire. My story makes it sound simple only because I’m simplifying two major elements. First, it took years of hard, dedicated work to achieve her level of success. Second, she saw an opportunity, a void in the marketplace and pounced. She pounced with reckless abandon.
How can we as Developing Resilient Leaders position ourselves for this level of success?
I am now going to give you my unscientific, non-peer reviewed, resilient leader theory on a taking risks. Are you ready? Got your pencils out? Here’s it is. Live on the Edge. You heard it. Live on the Edge.
For a decade after college, I waited tables at an upscale restaurant. I worked Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights following my full week’s work. The money was good. In fact, the money I earned there went straight to my kid’s 529 College Savings plan.
As a waiter, I had a panache for memorizing the customer’s orders. Actually, I knew what they wanted before they came in the door, sometimes months later. This one particular evening I waited on a woman I recognized as my poetry writing teacher from my junior year in college. After a small amount of prompting she remembered me. She told her husband, “I was impressed with Trent. He may have been the first accounting major to set foot in my poetry writing class.” Then she asked me, “Do you remember what grade you earned?” “I earned a B-.” Her husband chimed in, “You should be proud of yourself for that grade. It takes courage for an accountant to step that far out of their comfort zone.”
A never thought of it as that, stepping out of my comfort zone. At the time, I thought of it as trying something different. Heck, isn’t that what college is for? Isn’t that what life is truly about trying new experiences and then even newer ones? Plato is right. The unexamined life is not worth living. Only by living on the edge of control can we push our boundaries and develop new talents – like becoming Developing Resilient Leaders.
Let me leave you with a quick poem that I wrote in the class when I was 19. Oh, I should tell you. Coinciding with my junior year poetry experiment was my first breakup. The girl left me for someone else and broke my heart, which made my poetry just a little bitter.
I know. I know. I’ll save the poetry for the poets. But, the experience is one that has lasted with me for decades, even though I only got a B- and didn’t win the highest grade point average award.
Folks, thank you for listening to Swimming in the Flood. Resilient leaders face challenging currents and it is tough navigating, but with one tack or another, we can get there together.