The Salahi's
Regardless of what you think of the Salahi's stunt, their motives, or the aftermath, I believe there is a lesson for us all in this story: they had a goal and they went for it.
Seriously now, how are you as committed to your goals as they were to meeting the President (or getting into the event, or getting the publicity - again their motives are not my point)?
Are you willing to stick your neck out, take risks and try things that haven't been successful in the past in order to reach your goals?
If you are, congratulations. I believe that for most of us, the answer is no.
And if the answer is no, why isn't your passion that high and your commitment that strong?
That is a question that is worth thinking about.
While I am not suggesting we break the law to reach our goals, I am suggesting that there is likely more you could be doing - I know there is more that I could be doing - to reach our goals faster.
Of course we can translate these questions into a leadership perspective as well, and ask ourselves if we are supporting people's passion and commitment as much as we could.
These are some of the things the Salahi story story got me thinking about.
The Secret Service
These events also got me thinking about the Secret Service, and an important leadership lesson that I find in their actions/inactions. Without going into the details, details that we may never know anyway, clearly the Secret Service had/has a process problem. Perhaps thay have a performance management issue with specific employees, but from what I have read, they also have a process improvement opportunity (the press calls it a breech - we call it a process problem).
Likely the flaws or improvement opportunities in your organization's processes won't be as drastic or become as public as these have, but it reminds us that even our most important and perhaps most used work processes may need improvement.
The securty process for State Dinners will likely be improved in the coming weeks. But would they have been if not for the Salahi's?
I think not.
Consider this a cautionary tale of the dangers of the comfort zone and the need for us as leaders to be proactive. Like the Secret Service, your most critical processes won't be reviewed until you have a problem, or you as a leader take the iniative to have a review, or a process improvement team look for opportunities.
In both parts of the story, the choice is yours - choose to be committed and choose to be proactive.
The choices are yours.
