Take time to look around the corner.
Chaos.
Streets filled with people, packed shoulder to shoulder 3 and 4 people deep on the sidewalks. Each person waiting with eager anticipation for the moment they will be freed to go explore or head to their next destination. Families huddled together holding hands or gripping tightly to the shirt of one another so they won’t get separated.
Not me.
I’m on an island. I am in this alone. There is a tension I can feel. The moment this massive crowd will be free to move in every direction is approaching and the people around me are focused and beginning to jockey for position. I HAVE to be ready for what’s about to happen. The sea of humanity around me is swaying with movement and the conversation and instructions are escalating louder and louder.
Then it happened.
The last vehicle passed, and people began to move in the streets moving in every direction.
Now was my time.
I had a mission.
I had to get to the corner and look down the cross street to see if we were heading in the right direction. I was looking for a particular landmark that would serve as a guidepost to tell me I was leading my family in the right direction through this crowd.
As we begin to move, the pace of our movement quickly increases. We are still packed together as we speedwalk and bump into each other and that’s when it happens.
I bump elbows with a gentleman who is moving alongside me. He subsequently nudges my elbow back.
“Did he just elbow me?” I think to myself.
I push back on him with my forearm, and he meets me with resistance and pushes back on my arm. At this point, we turn and lock eyes as if to say, “Are we doing this?” We continue to throw elbows and push back and forth as we move toward the intersection ahead of us.
As we get to the corner, we give a final hard shove as we part ways and continue on our individual quests to find what we were looking for at…
“The happiest place on Earth.”
Disney World.
We were on a family vacation, trying to find the one last attraction my youngest daughter wanted to go to before we left for the day. While looking for it, we got stuck by the parade that happens every day. We knew when that parade was over we needed to head straight for the attraction before the line got so long we wouldn’t be able to stay for it.
My mission was to get to the corner and look for landmarks that would tell me if what we were looking for was that direction. If it was, I needed to signal to my family which direction to go if we were going to reach our goal.
Looking around corners.
That's what leaders do.
We get out in front of our organizations and “look around corners” to see what’s coming next for the people we lead.
As we start closing out 2024 and thinking about what’s ahead in ’25, we are looking around the corner and getting a lay of the land so we can guide our teams where we want to be.
Think about this image:
You, the leader, walk to an intersection ahead. As you look both directions around the corner, you see things your team can’t see from their vantage point. You can see potential around the corner that they can’t see yet. You can see the trials lying just around the corner that they aren’t thinking about yet.
Leaders make decisions based on what we see around the corner that our teams don’t yet see. They will see the excitement on our faces when we see an opportunity around the corner, and they will sense hesitation in our voice when we see difficulty around another corner.
It's our role as leaders to take time to look around the corner and prepare those we lead for what lies ahead. What we see and how we respond and prepare them will go a long way toward the success or failure of our organization.
Make no mistake about it, it is always a struggle when we try to see around the corner. It may not be a guy pushing and throwing elbows, but it will be the tyranny of the urgent trying to keep you from thinking about what’s around the corner. Push past it.
Fear of what lies around the corner will keep us from thinking about the future and making a plan. Push past it. Throw a few elbows back at fear.
The paralysis or analysis will keep you frozen at the intersection of what lies ahead and keep you from leading in one direction or another. Fight against that.
Determine where you are going and which direction you need to go next.
Once you are clear, do what I did at Disney. I excitedly waved to my family and let them know I had spotted what we were looking for. They trusted me to lead them so even though they couldn’t see what was around the corner they came running because I saw what was waiting for us and it was great!
What about you and the teams you lead?
Family. Departments at work. Organizations. Nonprofits. Churches.
What do you see around the corner?
As we close out ’24, take some time to look around the corner at what opportunities you will have in ’25 and lead your team well around that corner. They are looking to you to set the tone. Tell them what you’ve “seen” as you look around the corner to next year. Cast a vision about where you are going and then wave wildly with excitement for them to follow you to see what you see.
My family did and your team will.
The joy on their face as they saw what I had already laid eyes on was worth the struggle to get to the corner.
So go on. Peek around the corner. It’ll pay off.
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