Hearing noises is one of the greatest challenges a leader faces. Everywhere we turn, there they are, front and center. Noises that enter through our ears and penetrate our hearts and minds.
Mountain Noise
Grant and I spent the weekend in a family cabin in Ellijay, Georgia. Ellijay is nestled in the North Georgia Mountains. He wrestled in a tournament in Jasper, Georgia Friday and Saturday night. The site of the tournament was almost an hour away from our house, the cabin is only about twenty minutes away. It offered him an opportunity for a few extra minutes of needed rest overnight. It offered me a respite from the noise of life and leadership.
Wrestling Noise
If you have never wrestled, let me paint a picture for you that may be relatable. Imagine being in an echoey gymnasium with several hundred people cheering, screaming, and yelling. Whistles blowing and clock buzzers going off on six different mats. It’s chaotic and makes it hard to hear. There is a tremendous amount of noise.
In addition, wrestlers are required to wear head gear for protection. Take your hands and cup your ears, that is what your hearing level equates to during a match. It muffles all of the previously described noises.
On top of that, you need to hear your coaches provide instruction during the match. All while another human being is attempting to grab you, physically take you to the ground, and hold your shoulders flat onto the mat against your will. Got the picture?
Leadership can present very similar challenges in hearing. Noise follows us everywhere we go. What is the good and bad that come with noise? Let’s find out:
The Bad
I am currently challenging myself to walk outdoors for 45 minutes every morning, regardless of the conditions. The last day we were at the cabin, I got up early and knocked out my workout. I left my earbuds behind on purpose, I wanted to hear everything.
It was 20 degrees out and the mountain air was extremely crisp. I could hear ALL the noises.
At first, I was surprised to first hear traffic. Ellijay is rural, but there is a major thoroughfare that runs through the commercial district. While it is several miles from where I was, the air was so crisp, sound traveled well. I heard tractor trailers and loud vehicles in the distance.
Then, I heard a hawk screech. In a quick consultation with my buddy Claud AI, “Hawks make alarm calls to warn their mate or offspring about potential threats like larger predators or humans getting too close to their nest. These tend to be sharp, urgent sounds meant to alert others to danger.” Well…I fell into the “human” and “too close” criteria. The screeches were not pleasant noises to hear.
Then as I transitioned off the gravel road and onto the asphalt, I heard the noise of my feet pounding the asphalt. All the way up a steep, very steep road. The noise compounded my doubt and physical inabilities.
In leadership, too often we hear negative noises in the background. The audible voices of Critics and the deafening keystrokes of the cowardly keyboard warriors. Haters that never have AND will never stand In The Arena of leadership. “Those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat,” as President Teddy Roosevelt once said. They do nothing but cast noises of discouragement, doubt, and distraction.
The Good
The negative can drown out the good only if we give it permission to in our decisions. The noises on my walk transitioned to good only when I opened my eyes. When I chose to lift them up from the steep asphalt slope to see the amazing sun rise over the majestic Mountain Tops. When I chose to keep walking, the screech of the hawk subsided. Only then could I hear the harmonious music of birds chirping. Only when I made the critical choice to listen to the flowing water instead of the chaotic noise of the traffic. Those decisions drowned out the negative noise.
In leadership, we can’t miss the good. The negative noise in our worlds can negate the amazing and extraordinary blessings we all have. I have always told kids I coach that they, “Can listen with not only their ears, but their eyes.”
If we don’t open our eyes to hear the good, we can easily miss the majestic accomplishments, the harmony that DOES exist within the team, and the steadiness that exists in the face of chaos.
It is incumbent upon us as leaders to choose the good over the bad. It’s the one choice we get as leaders every single day.
Conclusion
Honestly, I’m not the best at making this choice. That is why I make sure that I have people around me that speak into my world, both personally and professionally. People that challenge me and redirect me when I pursue the decision of hearing negative noise.
In wrestling, there is one TERRIBLE noise to hear. That is the sound of a referee’s hand slapping the mat while you are on your back. Match…over!
Grant lost a tough match in the quarterfinals to the wrestler who would go on to win the tournament. No slap of the mat in this one, just was short on points at the final buzzer. In a double elimination format, the second loss ends your tournament. He had to win FOUR critical matches to wrestle for third place. Two had Region implications.
During one of those matches, we had another wrestler who was also having a crucial match to continue in the tournament. I trust Grant’s coaches implicitly with him. That is not a passive statement either, because that trust had to be, no pun intended, wrestled away from me. So, I went to coach the other wrestler.
That wrestler deserved my full attention, so I intentionally positioned myself with my back to Grant’s match. I peeked over right before the other match started and saw that he got the first takedown and was up on the scoreboard 3 to 0…good.
Then I heard commotion behind me in the stands…not good. Knowing he was winning the last I saw, that the negative noise set in. As soon as there was a break in the action of the match I was coaching, I peeked back over. Grant was on his back! I turned my attention back to coaching and I expected to hear that awful noise…the slap of the mat.
Well…I never did. After the wrestler I was coaching had his hand raised in victory, I closed my eyes and reluctantly peeked back, but this time towards the stands. Fearing the worst, I was expecting to see my parents and Shannon distraught in defeat, instead they gave me the thumbs up…the international symbol/sound of good news!
I had made a really poor choice, one we all too sadly make in life and leadership, I chose to listen to fear. Fear only produces bad noise. I wasted time fearing to hear a noise that never came to fruition. The most unproductive use of one’s time.
I want to do better. How about you? If I’m going to hear voices, I want it to be that of sweet victory, not defeat. It starts with choosing to hear the good stuff. Slap the mat on negative noise.