The Hardest Job

It occurred to me the other day at how I got to where I got to. Many things of course, but a reoccurring theme is leadership, and defining leadership as being out front, taking the first bullet, cresting the hill without knowing what lies on the other side (too lazy to check if 'lies' or 'lays' is right). My brain works in a circling motion, moving from one end of my business operations to the next, searching for bugs, problems, issues that are unaddressed and threatening. If none are found, the brain circles again, an endless anti-virus mechanism.

But back to leadership. I do the hard problems, the ones that I think will be inefficiently tackled by unvested staff, the ones that could have ripple impacts across the production schedule, the bottleneck that is lingering, the minor hole in the dam that is threatening to grow bigger, quickly.

My daily question as my operational review brain cycles through the projects - where is the delay, where is the possible delay, what will be solved without my help, and where can I get in and clear the way forward for the troops. Bushwhacking with my problem-solving machete, my night googles, my forecasting wand, my stiff-arm and sometimes even an uppercut or roundhouse.

Happy Valentines Day.