There Is No Finish Line

Several of my children joined my wife and me as we enjoyed a fantastic evening at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit last Friday evening. We attended the Black-Tie Charity Preview that precedes the show’s opening to the general public. It is an opportunity for the gang to get “dressed to the nines”, wander the great Cobo Hall, take in all of the amazing vehicles on display, (as well as all the remarkable people on display), all while being a part of raising over $5,000,000 for various children’s charities in the Detroit area. It’s a highlight event of the year that we always look forward to and make a grand night of it.

For me, one of the great pleasures of the evening was running into so many friends and acquaintances that I’ve had the pleasure of working with over the last 40 years or so. No matter how pleasant or unpleasant our previous encounters were, coming together in that environment was joyous indeed; I found it energizing and uplifting.

A special encounter for me was as we gathered in the atrium, at the conclusion of the Charity Ball, soaking up the Beach Boys concert that was part of the afterglow activities. Standing there facing the stage, we met up with former Light Heavy Weight Boxing Champion Greg Wright and his charming wife, Brenda. Greg is a great boxer, my personal trainer and a great friend.

I hoped our paths would cross, not always an easy thing with over 13,000 in attendance. Once we found each other, our families spent equal time watching the entertainment on stage and talking and laughing together over the music.

While we were gathered, I noticed a couple approach Greg and begin to engage him and enjoy a few moments together. It was obvious to me that they must be members of a local TITLE Boxing Club where Greg is the head trainer. With the strain, fatigue, discomfort and sometimes agony that goes along with boxing training, an everlasting bond and friendship is often born in that environment.

Reflecting on this interaction, and my own feelings after crossing paths with so many friends and acquaintances from my career’s journeys, I asked myself, “What leadership lessons can I observe here?” While there may be several, I will offer the leadership lesson of the day as this, borrowing a line from a famous Nike advertisement, leaders need to remember that “There is no finish line”.

Champion Greg Wright could have easily retired from the ring, taken his winnings and settled into a secure and comfortable retirement. He chose instead to find new avenues to use his years of training, sacrifice and experience to teach and train others. He has not crossed a finish line in his career, but instead has transitioned into a higher plain of investing and working with others, making their lives better, one punch at a time, as only he can. I for one have benefited greatly from his training and he has made my life better in many significant ways.

The same can be said for so many of the people I met on the floor that day. Whether moving from one program to the next, one company to the next, or one career to the next, the leaders I met that evening were all forging forward to contribute to the world in new and exciting ways. Instead of taking their learnings and earnings and heading to the beach, they are applying them to new and in many ways, more challenging objectives. Leaders don’t just stop being leaders. They grow, and they find that all the tough leadership lessons they have learned thus far are just preparing them for newer and even better and more rewarding challenges ahead.

Perhaps this is why Homer ended his epic novel, “The Odyssey” in the fashion that he did. In this mythical tale, we follow the hero Odysseus in his remarkable journey home from the Trojan war. During his journey, he encounters seductive sirens, lotus eaters, one-eyed cyclops’s and other soul gripping challenges that besiege him. He is chased by monsters and gods and finally, after his heroic and successful battles with these daunting challenges he finally makes it home. One would think, (and I believe desire), that this would be the end of the story, and that he “lives happily ever after”. But alas, that is not how it turns out. Apparently, there was something more for our Odysseus. All of the wisdom and experiences he gained are apparently needed for a higher cause. In the final two chapters of the tomb we find that there is something more for Odysseus to face, a continuance for his myth.

We read,

“Then came also the ghost of Theban Teiresias, with his golden scepter in his hand…When you get home you will take your revenge on the suitors of your wife. And after you have killed them by force or fraud in your own house, you must take a well-made oar and carry it on and on, till you come to a country where the people have never heard of the sea and do not even mix salt with their food, nor do they know anything about ships, and oars that are the wings of a ship. I will give you this certain token which cannot escape your notice. A wayfarer will meet you and will say [your oar] must be a winnowing shovel that you have got upon your shoulder; on [hearing] this you must fix the oar in the ground and sacrifice a ram, a bull and a boar to Neptune. Then go home and offer hecatombs [one hundred cattle] to the gods in heaven one after the other. As for yourself, death shall come to you from the sea, and your life shall ebb away very gently when you are full of years and peace of mind, and your people shall bless you. All that I have said will come true.”*

Obviously, Homer was not done with our hero. After his triumphant return, he needed to press on again with yet another adventure, this time to a different land, one that didn’t even know about his primary venue, the sea. So too it is with us.

Greg could have gone the way of many. He could have simply gone into seclusion, spent down his earnings and faded into the sunset. However, he chose a different and better path. He chose to use his accumulated knowledge and experience to help others in new and, in many ways, superior challenges. This is true with so many leaders that I have met along the way. We spend a career forging our own story. Leaders don’t simply waste that story and fade quietly into the night. True leaders find a calling to apply their experiences, talents and energy as they continue to make this a better world for all they encounter.

As our day-to-day struggles mount, let’s not lose focus of the beauty of the journey. The fact that we are learning things the hard way today, is preparing us for even greater causes down the road. Do not get weary in well-doing, but stay the course, pay the price of an education in the school of hard knocks, and prepare to help others in ways that nobody else could. Leadership is a process of continuous learning, and to that end, there indeed is no finish line.

To all the great people we bumped into on Friday, it was great seeing you! Thank you for your continued service to our industries, our community and to your fellow man. Well done and as always,

Stay Strong,

Terry