You can’t lead from a pickup truck.
And you can’t lead from your office.
You have to lead by being integrated with your team and with boots on the ground.
When I was fresh out of high school I was working as an apprentice for an industrial construction company. Millwrights, pipefitters, and welders. I cut my teeth with these guys.
We were building a production facility in Fort Worth and we were working 7 12’s. We did this for months. I was going to college at night at the time so I was allowed to only work 10 hour days on days that I had class.
Hat tip to my old superintendent.
I worked with 4 great leaders on that project in different capacities that all lead with boots on the ground. They put in the hours with us and they did it WITH us. They didn’t watch us from behind their office window or from the inside of their truck. They carried rigging, they set up load skates, they taught us how to read piping diagrams and blueprints.
I think about this a lot and to this day I try mimic the example that they set for me as a kid in the workforce.
I was lucky enough to stand on the shoulders of some giants and arguably their impact on me is what has allowed me to reach different pinnacles.
Lead from the front. Boots on the ground.
Someone like me will thank you for it later.