Leadership Gym

Back in High School I had to take Weight Lifting as a class.  I'm assuming I "had to" take it because I didn't want to take the other potential electives but I had a semester of weight lifting none the less.  And, if you've been paying attention you could probably guess that I wasn't much on exercise most of my high school life and this was no different.

Combine that with my tendency to avoid doing what teachers asked and still finding way's to get decent grades and you can imagine how little weight lifting I did that semester.  I was in the weight room alot.  I watched alot of weight lifting.  I sat on benches.  I leaned on walls.  I walked around in the weight room and occasionally I lifted a weight.

Fortunately, I was thinking ahead at the beginning of the semester when the coach had us record our max on various machines.  I sandbagged.  I lifted just enough to not look like a complete wuss.  So, at the end of the semester, when we needed to record our max (which a large % of our grade was based on) I was able to record a good enough weight gain in order to pass the class.  Everybody knew I didn't lift any during the semester.  Including our starting catcher on the baseball team.  My first swing at baseball tryouts that year was a homerun which made him so mad he yelled out "and he never touched a weight all semester!!"

What's the lesson?  Just being in the weight room isn't enough.  Sitting on the equipment isn't enough.  I may have gotten the grade but I wasn't any stronger.

In our store, we have a leadership gym.  Everyday we have so many opportunities to flex our leadership muscle, to try a new technique, maybe try something a bit heavier.  Our leadership toolbox has the various exercises listed.  ESRC, 4 Disciplines of Execution, 10/10/10, SBI, SERVE (crossfit)...  Every day we can lift these weights.  Lots of reps.  But, its also easy to just walk around.  Maybe talk to some people.  Sit on the equipment.  We can get through the day without lifting if we really want to.

Who will be stronger after a semester in the "gym"?  The guy increasing his reps and the weight every day or the guy walking around the gym doing anything but lifting?

Don't miss this opportunity.  Every day is a day in the leadership gym.  You may get lucky and hit a homerun occasionally but don't be like me back in HS.  Don't miss that opportunity to get stronger.  If you lift every day you will be a strong leader.       


PS-If the store is the Gym and the toolbox is the equipment, books and podcasts are the protein needed for strong leadership muscle.