Taking the High Road

I attended an event where Roger Staubach, former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and NFL Hall-of-Famer, spoke a few years ago.

He shared that there is very little traffic when traveling the second mile or the high road.

Very few cars are driving beside, in front, or alongside you.

As I ponder that, I think of situations when I have traveled alone on a stretch of road in the dark, no cars are in front, beside, or coming at me, with just my headlights, no streetlights or moonlight; it's dark.

Shine Your Light

This week, I released an Impact Driven Leader Podcast episode featuring a segment from the July IDL Summit.

Over the next four weeks, I will release conversations from each speaker at the event I recorded right after they presented.

In my Q&A with John Maxwell, I wanted to gain perspective from his experience speaking to and working with audiences that did not trust leaders.

I had heard him tell of an occasion when he was in Kyiv, Ukraine, and his translator for the presentation shared this bombshell with him.

“John, I know your content and have read your books. I know you teach a lot about leaders adding value to people. I want you to know before you go and speak to the audience that if you tell them that leaders add value to people, they will have no idea what you are saying. They have never experienced a leader add value to them. They have only had leaders manipulate and take advantage of people.”

Today, in the US, much of what existed at the downfall of communism in the late 1990s is in the form of untrusting leaders. Many leaders manipulate and take advantage of people.

The manipulative leaders chastise the darkness and gravitate to environments with light pollution—light from others rather than themselves –the easy, heavily traveled paths.

How to Turn on the Light

If this world needs leaders who will turn on and shine their light, how do they do it? By choosing accountability.

Accountability is ownership, ownership is responsibility, and responsibility leads to trust. Leaders who take action build and enhance trust. The moment we tell ourselves it is better not to address an issue is the day we tell everyone that the behavior is acceptable. This is a complete pass on accountability.

Leaders struggle to hold others accountable because they often struggle to hold themselves accountable. Leaders who struggle with accountability struggle with vulnerability; they don't want to fail, so they admonish accountability.

As leaders embrace authentic accountability, they turn their light brighter and brighter.

People follow leaders who shine their light into the darkness and illuminate the path forward.

Go Together

As our light shines, we can encourage others to shine their lights as well.

The high road has plenty of space for others to drive. Remember, there isn't much traffic, and the great thing about more people going along the high road is that there is more light.

But to shine the most light on the high road, leaders must seek to be interactional. Instead of pointing our light in the direction of our choice—directional leadership—leaders need to seek from others' perspectives, allowing them to shine their lights and seek the best path forward.

This interactional leadership is what John calls shared thinking.

When others share their ideas and perspectives, we can see where we are otherwise blind. Collectively, the thoughts and ideas exponentially grow and get better faster than we can do by being directional.

By going together and seeking to be interactional, we can overcome our blind spots.

The Self-Awareness Myth

Today's leadership world is so dark because many leaders go through their days with blinders.

They shield their eyes from the realities around them and close off to the input from others.

Choosing self-awareness is not about being able to see what you have chosen not to look at. It is like looking in the mirror and seeing the scar on your chin for so long that you forget it's there until someone points it out.

Self-awareness is putting yourself before others and asking them what they see in you. They will point out things you can't see in the mirror, like the scar on the back of my head.

This process is essential for leaders to do and seek. It involves accountability through vulnerability and authenticity with others.

Like the road that gets brighter when others share their light, when we have others who help us remove the blinders, we can see what we have never seen before. The high road gets easier to travel because it has much more light.

The Roundtable

My journey to shine my light and travel the high road started shortly before I heard Roger Staubach's message years ago.

I sat in the room to hear from Roger because I chose to join a community where I could learn with and from others.

I want to offer you the same opportunity. The Roundtable is the signature offering of the Impact Driven Leader Community.

This group meets weekly from February through November via Zoom. In the first year, we focus on the Awaken the Leader Within course, where we identify how to Awaken, Grow, and Lead.

Applications to join for 2025 are now open.

Lastly, Roundtable members get a free VIP ticket to the Impact Summit.

Did you catch this podcast? If not, listen to it here.