On the Edge: The Art of High-Impact Leadership by Alison Levine

Author:Alison Levine [Levine, Alison]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Business & Economics / Motivational, Business & Economics / Leadership
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2014-01-06T14:00:00+00:00

About five days into the trip, I was cooking my dinner in my tent, feeling pretty depressed about my inability to perform at the same level as my teammates. I secretly wished I would have a trip-ending injury that would alleviate them of the burden of having me as part of Team CAN DU. While we were still a long way from the South Pole, which is the actual bottom of the world, I felt like I had already reached my personal low point. Suddenly, I overheard Eric, our team leader, and George, the twice-my-size teammate, quietly talking in the nearby tent they shared. It was as if a coworker had accidentally butt-dialed me while he was talking to our boss. I was fairly sure I was about to hear them rip into my performance. I don’t remember the exact conversation word for word, but I will never ever forget the gist:

“Alison is really struggling with the weight of her sled.” To my relief, Eric genuinely seemed concerned.

Then George piped in. “Yeah, she is. I feel bad for her because she is trying so hard to keep up, but she’s so much smaller than everyone else.”

“We should try to help her out somehow. Maybe we could offload some of the weight in her sled.”

“Great idea, Eric. Let’s do it.”

I was completely shocked by this conversation. I’d convinced myself that my teammates wanted to get rid of me because I was the weakest person on the team. But instead, these two men were secretly strategizing on how to help me. I was especially surprised at their proposed solution, because offloading weight from my sled onto other people’s would make their loads even heavier—assuming they did not intend to toss my food supply and clothing into a crevasse.

The next morning, Eric and George emerged from their tent, stretched their arms, and exchanged the usual “good mornings” with the rest of us. Of course they had no idea that I had been privy to their conversation the previous night. Then they began their charade. “Hey, George, help me out with something,” said Eric. “I want to make sure that everyone’s sleds are about equal weight so I know that we’re all hauling about the same amount of gear and supplies. Grab the end of that sled, will ya, mate?”

He nodded for George to help him, and the two of them began the process of picking up each team member’s sled so that they could judge whether the group’s gear had been evenly distributed based on how heavy each sled felt. I watched as George and Eric each grabbed an end of Merete’s sled. “This one feels about right.” They dropped it back down onto the ice. Then they grabbed Bernice’s sled. “This one feels pretty good, too.” They also picked up each of the sleds they had been hauling. “These feel like they are about what they should be,” and they gently laid the sleds back down.

Then they walked to my sled. Each grabbed an end and began to lift it.

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