Today’s blog piece is an excerpt from A Good Leadership Book; a new book from Auckland-based leadership coach, Dan Lake from Lead-Coach-Release
It has been reproduced with Dan’s permission and copies of the book are available from Wellington City Libraries.
For thousands of years of human history, men and women stood out under the night sky, staring at the moon and the stars, wondering what it would be like to be ‘out there.’
In space. On the moon. Beyond the earth.
On November 21, 1783, two Frenchmen made history by coming the first men to lift off beyond the earth in an air balloon.
Not falling off a cliff, nor jumping up high. No springs or canons.
Defying the law of gravity – they rose upward toward the heavens.
In the roughly 240 years since then, we’ve made incredible strides in our ability to move beyond the confines of our own orbiting world.
Sustained heavier-than-air flight with the Wright brothers.
Breaking the speed of sound.
Sending the first object to orbit the earth fully – outside of our atmosphere.
The first man in space.
And perhaps most famously, “One small step for man, One giant leap for mankind.”
None of these events happened in isolation. They were, each and every one of them, combinations of people and breakthroughs and ideas and experiments.
At every juncture – all throughout history from the caveman staring into space to the International Space Station still orbiting Earth today – people have asked a crucial question: “What might be possible if?”
It is an innocuous question. Full of innocence and a smidge of humility.
It has all the hallmarks of a 4-year boy with a bicycle, two planks, and a quiet Saturday afternoon. There is guaranteed to be competition around how many toy cars can be jumped in one go!
For every little girl, it’s a question about hair and make-up and colored nails. The unlimited potential of the unknown and beautiful.
“What might be possible if?” is a question, that when asked with enough intentionality, with enough consistency, with enough dogmatic tenacity, and a hunger to find an answer, is a question that can change history.
Just ask Neil Armstrong. He walked on the moon.
Often well-meaning Managers, in the pursuit of doing things right, keep teams on a narrow path away from exploration and innovation. After all, mistake might be made. Time might be lost. Inconsistencies may occur.
But scale and growth and future-ready-transformation do not happen by doing the same things.
Google’s famous “20 Percent Time” is a great example of an organization making space to ask “What might be possible if?” Google profited hundreds of millions of dollars from “possible” innovations.
Both Adsense (the backbone of Google’s advertising revenue model) and Gmail grew out of developers asking “what might be possible if?”
As leaders, we must be asking “What might be possible if?”
What might be possible if we adjust some expectations for our team?
What might be possible if some resources were freed up for innovation?
What might be possible if more trust and responsibility were given out?
What might be possible if we said “Stop”? Or “Start”?
What might be possible if we took a step forward, toward our dream, one small step?
Stop saying No. Stop making excuses. Stop saying there are no resources (time, money, people, information, etc).
Start exploring what might be possible if you step out!
Start giving your team time to step out. To innovate. To transform processes and timing and work-flow.
About Dan
Dan Lake is a recognized authority in leadership and organizational development. Dan Lake has explored good leadership on five continents as a bungy jump instructor, team leader, business owner, and leadership consultant. Dan has extensive experience with emerging leaders and senior management teams covering operations, training, coaching, and development. He holds a Master’s in Leadership focused on engaging emerging leaders.
A good leadership book : on clarity, culture & communication / Lake, Dan
“Where does good leadership begin? Today, more than ever, success hinges on clarity, culture, and communication. Filled with bite-sized tools, ideas, and frameworks, this book is a generous guide to personal and professional growth. Emerging leaders, seasoned executives, non-profit partners changing the world, and those seeking to make an impact will find inspiration and micro-adjustments to make a meaningful difference…” — Back cover.” (Catalogue)
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