Blogs

What about Bob?  Not the movie character about a successful psychotherapist driven to distraction by an obsessive-compulsive patient, but Bob from a local community fretting at your public involvement meeting that his house or neighborhood is going to be paved over due to a proposed highway expansion.   

Case in point: When my team presented at a public involvement meeting, we were certain we had won over the audience . . . until someone mentioned a proposed 3-foot-high ornate retaining wall.  All they heard was wall, and it didn’t help that our design images didn’t include a visual of the wall. We returned a few weeks later with an image that not only showed the wall, but a crowd-pleasing design in full context, which they unanimously approved. 

 Located on U.S. Highway 1, the same highway that starts in the Florida Keys and ends in Maine, Red's Eat's is arguably the most popular lobster shack in Maine. Built in 1947 in what is now considered an awkward highway right of way, people from around the nation flock to the Wiscasset restaurant. During high season it’s common to see lines of customers wrapped around the building and down the sidewalk, and on weekends, approximately 25,000 vehicles a day drive on U.S. Highway 1 through the tiny town.

Do leaders recognize themselves in those whom they lead? Do they remember what it’s like to be under someone’s supervision and the influence that leader yields? There are many well-written posts on the value of good leadership, but I wonder if leaders understand what it really means to listen, to invite honest feedback, and to celebrate the courage of those who take that risk. 

Several years ago, while speaking to my then middle school-age son, I gave him my opinion regarding a particular situation and how he handled it. It was obvious he was tuning me out so I asked him what was he thinking and invited him to be honest. To my surprise he respectfully said I needed to stop lecturing him and to lighten up. 

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