I confess, I have been dreaming of the moment for about 5 years. The moment where my lovely wife and I are walking down a busy city street in a large bustling city (let's call it New York). Tyler and I are laughing, talking, smiling, holding hands.
When suddenly!: The scene breaks to the menacing face of our young punk character (we'll call him "Tommy" who is of course a troubled youth, with a Mohawk, a few tats on his neck, and a look of disrespect for authority on his face). Tommy sees his target, an unsuspecting tourist couple holding hands, and makes his move. He runs up from behind my bride and snatches her purse. And (as you might imagine) the mother of all foot chases ensues! Trash cans are being knocked down and there are more than a few of those slick slides over fronts of cars you see police doing in movies. And, just as Tommy thinks he has gotten away with the purse Tyler and I bought on sale from TargetBAM!, I hit young Tommy with a perfect form tackle from the side through an alleyway I cut through. Tommy learns an important lesson, turns his life around, and becomes the leader of the local chapter of the boys and girls club. Tyler gets her Target purse back and the contents inside (a smorgasbord of half mints, gift cards with 2.50 on them, and a bunch of mystery items that create a Bermuda Triangle for anything you may want to locate). The day is saved. I was a hero. Of course, it never happened, until.
Tyler and I were in Barcelona (I was there for work and we turned it into an opportunity to travel together). We were walking down a part of Barcelona called El Borne which is known for life filled restaurants, shops, and Tapas bars which fill alleyways that are centuries old. The ambiance is so incredible you expect at any moment to see Javier chasing Jean Valjean down a corridor you are standing in! I made an awesome recommendation to take Tyler down a particular dark alley after our dinner (so romantic!). In said dark/romantic alley three nefarious men came up to talk to us, asked us some directions, and started walking away. Tyler (the true hero) asked me "do you have your wallet". And I didn't! YES! Finally, my moment! In, what seemed like slow motion I turned and chased down this perpetrator like I was batman. Luckily he was only a few feet away (or I would have not have caught him. I am not really an endurance runner or runner of any kind). I did have some imbedded unarmed combat training I learned from my military days which were sprung into action from muscle memory out of now where. Within a few moments, I had this perpetrator in an arm bar (again, no idea where that came from!). I did get my wallet got back and rather anticlimactically let the gentleman go. No really cool foot race, or big hit from the side, and so far I have no evidence to prove that his man turned his life around and become the leader of the Barcelona boys and girls club. But there was something really good about feeling like a hero even if the moment didn't rise to the level of my daydream. Deep within each of us, we all desire it I think. We all want be heroes.
One of my heroes, Bob Goff, says we should all be "secretly awesome". He says we should all be our own version of Clark Kent walking around with superman capes underneath our suits and dresses. Looking for good deeds to do. Springing into action when needed. No reason to make a big deal out of it. Save the girl, stop the building from burning up, rescue the dog, help the lady across the street, and then slip back into the crowd. Don't take any credit -- no need for fanfare. Inconspicuously watch the news along with everyone else shrugging your shoulders: "Huh, that guy who rescued little Billy from the falling tree, how cool is that". No need to be recognized in a headline, or to write a blog post (ahem). Just being awesome as a default position
As leaders we have the great opportunity and responsibility to be heroes. We "GET "to fight for our people, to give encouragement when it is needed, to fight bad guys, and stand up for what is right and a mission bigger than us. Being a leader and being a hero are not mutually exclusive. They are intricately tied together.
HERE ARE 7 WAYS TO BE HERO:
* KNOW THE STORY OF EACH PERSON YOU LEAD: Know who their spouse is and the names of their kids. Their greatest failure and their greatest success. Know their vision and their professional dreams. You are a hero when you remember these specifics in discussion and interaction with the teammate. Bring them up in conversations. Tip: If you have more than 10 people you lead, create a simple spreadsheet or database to track important information about your people.
* KNOW THE BIRTHDAY OF EACH PERSON YOU LEAD: You are a hero when you remember the special day of someone you lead. I make it a practice to send a email to each person who has a birthday each day (and I cc our entire team). More important than my email is the rest of the office now knows to make today special for that person. And you are never too big or too important to do this: Dave Ramsey does this for his hundreds of employees in a way that is scalable, authentic and sincere.
* DO SMALL SELFLESS ACTS: Hold the door open for others. When someone is carrying something heavy, offer to carry it for themand then take it from them anyway when they say "it's okay"! When there is a mess on the floor in the coffee room, get down on your hands and knees to clean it up. It is the little things which communicate the big things.
* GET IN THE TRENCHES: One of the most heroic moments of George W. Bush's presidency was when he stood with the microphone on the wreckage after 9-11. It showed he would get in the trenches and fight for those he leads, and no matter if you loved him or hated him you were glad he was our leader in that moment. There is something very heroic about rolling up your sleeves and showing your team your will do anything to help them.
* PROTECT OTHERS: You are a hero when you can protect others who can't stick up for themselves. If there is ever any bullying or anyone not being treated with respect, your job is to launch in and take care of business. Fight disrespect in your office like a superhero would fights crime. If someone on your team needs protection (from up the chain to down the chain) you stand in the gap. As a hero, you always bear more pain than you inflict.
* DO THE HARD THINGS: If you are the general manager at Costco, stock the product with your team. If you lead a sales team, cold call and set meetings with them. As author Donovan Campbell says his book The Leaders Code : "there is nothing that a leader should ask of their team that that they will not, and do not, do themselves".
* USE THE WINDOW/MIRROR PHILOSOPHY: As Jim Collins describes in Good to great, great leaders "look out the window" to give praise to others when things go right and "look in the mirror" when things go wrong to assess what they could do better. They are humble enough to give credit to others but accountable when things go wrong.
Did you notice a common attribute among each of these? Heroes care more about serving their mission and their team than they do serving themselves. So if you really want to be a hero, don't worry about chasing down a pickpocketjust be selfless.
QUESTIONS FOR MILLENNILEADERS: What are ways you have been a hero for your team? What are heroic examples you have seen from other leaders?
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