Crossing the line into leadership is a decision that every person has or will be faced with. It is a critical point in the journey of a person’s life, whether to step across the line or stay behind it. One step across that line forever aligns us as a leader.
Field of Dreams
One of my favorite movies of all time is Field of Dreams. In the movie, Kevin Costner plays the star role as Ray Kinsella. Ray begins to hear voices that tell him, “If you build it, they will come.” He begins to pursue this voice that leads him to build a baseball field in the middle of his Iowa cornfield. Old timey players begin to magically emerge from the cornfield to play games and then disappear into the corn stalks afterwards.
The pursuit of the voice leads him to track down an old ballplayer named “Moonlight” Graham. Ray went searching for him in a small Minnesota town only to meet an elderly version of the ballplayer, “Doc” Graham.
Disappointed, Ray heads home to Iowa. On the way back, he picks up a young hitchhiker, the kid introduced himself as, “Archie” Graham. Archie had made it to the big leagues for a few weeks only to play one defensive inning, never getting a single at bat. Ray felt burdened to give him that experience, so he brought him home to his ballfield.
Crossing the Line
For the majority of the story, only Ray and his family could see the ballplayers. Ray’s decision to plow under his crops to build the field for these “ghosts” of ballplayers was creating a financial hardship on his family. He was at risk of losing the farm to the bank.
Towards the end of the movie, Ray gets into a heated argument with his brother-in-law about losing the property. The brother-in-law felt Ray should sell the property before it got foreclosed on. In the heat of the moment, they accidentally knocked Ray’s daughter off the top row of a bleacher. She hit the ground flush and turned blue.
In typical Hollywood fashion, the cameras swing to that young ballplayer…Archie. He starts jogging towards the young girl, until he comes to a clearly marked gravel line. He pauses for a second…stares at the line as if he is contemplating the decision of a lifetime… then proceeds over it. As he does, he transforms into the older version of himself, Doc Graham.
Doc ends up saving the girl’s life. She was choking to death on the hotdog she was eating before the fall. After this moment, the stark reality set in with Ray. He looks at Doc Graham and says, “Oh my God, you can’t go back…you can’t go back can you? I’m sorry.” Graham assures him, “It’s alright” as he turns and walks towards the cornfield.
I sold this scene extremely short. Here are two lessons for leaders are aspiring to cross that gravel line into leadership:
There is a Cost
Doc contemplated hard before crossing the line, he knew the implications of doing so. The dream of being a major league ballplayer would be lost forever. He reflected on those consequences and pressed forward anyways. Doc knew there was a cost in crossing the line.
At some point in our lives, we all aspired to be more and do more. That comes with a cost. There is a great clip floating around the internet of University of Georgia Football Coach Kirby Smart talking about the cost of leadership. He says three things about the cost of leadership:
- You will have to make hard decisions that negatively affect people you care about.
- You will be disliked despite your best attempt to do the best for the most.
- You will be misunderstood and won’t always have the opportunity to defend yourself.
Great leaders understand there is a cost to crossing the line of leadership.
Know the Why
In his brief moment of contemplation, Doc knew what crossing the line would cost him. No more playing ball, no more big-league dreams. Despite that impending cost, he stepped forward anyways. Step by step towards his purpose in life…his why.
See…Doc’s purpose in life was to help others. When Ray met Doc Graham earlier in the movie, he tried his best to get Doc to come back to Iowa with him to fulfill the dream of getting a major league at bat. Doc refused. Out of pure selfishness, Ray lectured him on how many people would love the opportunity to go back and live out their dreams. He said it would be a, “tragedy.”
Doc’s response was, “Son…If I would have only got to be a doctor for 5 minutes, now that would have been the tragedy.” He had perspective built on purpose.
If we are going to cross the line into leadership, we need to know our why. Not a selfish why, but a selfless one. Great leaders cross the line for others, not themselves. The art of leadership is Giving Away of Oneself. Serving others is the purest form of leadership that exists.
Conclusion
I had the opportunity to speak to a group of leaders with the Georgia Recreation and Parks Association a couple of weeks ago. It was a group of aspiring Parks and Recreation Directors and those already in the position. I shared this clip from the movie with them.
I left them with the same thought I will leave you with. We all have the ABILITY to be leaders. Maybe we need to listen to podcasts, watch videos, attend trainings, or read books to improve our leadership skills, but everyone has the ABILITY.
The great differentiator is WILLINGNESS. Doc Graham clearly had the ability, but more importantly, he had the WILLINGNESS. He knew the cost, he knew his why, and he confidently crossed the line. Are we WILLING to cross the line?
Clip of Doc Graham from Field of Dreams
Clip of Kirby Smart: The Cost of Leadership