The destination of our life’s work lies down the road ahead. While the journey of life and leadership can be congested with busyness, the remainder of our journeys are paved with opportunity. We have plenty of good work to do before it is all said and done.
The Road Ahead
One of the most consistent pieces of advice that you receive as a new parent is, “it goes by fast.” That statement is grounded in such an incredibly deep truth. Time simply flies.
This past week, my oldest child started her senior year and my youngest got his learner’s permit. Guess what…it went by fast! Just as everyone said it would.
As they experience these milestones in their lives, I can’t help thinking about the road ahead for them. What will they do? Who will they be? Where will they go? What does their future hold?
Being a parent is being a leader. The same skills that are required to be a parent are transferable to every level of leadership. As I think about the road ahead for my kids, I think back to those who paved the way on the road ahead for me.
What did I learn from them? Here are three major lessons:
The Greatest Desire
Every parent’s greatest desire is for their children to be Better Than Them. To go further, to do more, to live better, to find a better job, to achieve more, you name it.
This was my experience. I was the first person in my family to go to and to graduate college. My parents constantly expressed their desire for me to go to college growing up. Was it because they wanted bragging material at their next social event? No, they simply desired for me to have a better life than they did.
Great leaders desire the best for others. That desire can point those we are entrusted to lead down the road ahead. To a better and brighter future, to a place beyond their wildest imaginations.
Belief
When I was around eight years old, I overhead a conversation that set my trajectory moving forward. I was in the back seat of my grandfather’s late eighties extended cab Ford Ranger. Paw Paw, as we affectionally referred to him, was having a conversation with his friend sitting in the passenger seat.
The conversation was taking place as if I could not hear it. Paw Paw looked at his friend and said, “Billy…he is going to be the one to do something big.” As long as I live, I will never forget that. He believed in me more than I believed in myself.
Great leaders believe in those they lead more than they believe in themselves. Belief is one of the greatest gifts we can give to another human being. It can inspire, encourage, and prepare them for the great things that the road ahead has in store.
Legacy Mindset
Parents leave legacies. The children they raise are messages that they will send to generations they will never see. Children lead to grandchildren, who lead to great grandchildren, and so on. Beliefs, passions, disciplines, habits, and ways of life shape the road ahead for the family.
Great leaders think with a legacy mindset. A mindset that has a Vantage Point further down the road than our current location. Very few leaders will receive a statue or make their way into the world history books. In order to leave a legacy, it requires a mindset that exists beyond oneself, it’s a generational thought process.
In leadership, our legacies are left through the people we lead. Those people are the messages we are sending to generations that we will never see. Whatever success we achieve now is only sustainable through our legacies.
Each one of us has the opportunity to create a better tomorrow for someone else.
Conclusion
As for my kids, I simply hope and pray they just become good people. For the people I lead, I hope and pray they become good people as well. Good people do big things in this world. They are always in high demand.
So…what if you didn’t have the best parents? What if you haven’t been led by the best people? Maybe you yourself have not been the best leader? As long as we are breathing, it’s never too late…break the chain. Begin living life through the windshield, not the rearview mirror. The windshield is the only way to view the road ahead. The destination awaits.