5 Leadership Is A Rollercoaster Principles

Yesterday I had a privilege of taking my daughter on her first rollercoaster ride!  As you can imagine it was quite a memorable experience for all.  After taking the ride and enjoying that memory with her, I began to think about what leaders can learn from rollercoasters.  Trust me!  It will be worth the read.

Here’s my thoughts:

1. You have to pay a price to ride the rollercoaster.  Leaders, there is an upfront price that you must pay to lead.  In addition, you must continually keep paying a price if you wish to keep leading.
2. There is always a long line to ride the rollercoaster.  Leaders, don’t get too overconfident regarding your abilities.  If you think the organization can’t live without you, remember there is always a long line of people who would like your seat.
3. The learning curve is vertical.  Rollercoasters always take you up a steep part of the track at the beginning of the ride to gain speed.  Leaders, in today’s world, the learning curve is a straight up because organizations want immediate results. 
4. The track has many ups and downs, hard turns, and is often bumpy.  Leaders, I don’t have to tell you that leadership is not always easy.  Take comfort, if the path were smooth and straight, there would not be a need for leaders.
5. When the ride is over, you can wait to do it again!  Wow, does that say it all for leaders or what?!  As fast, bumpy, and out of control as things can seem to get, we wouldn’t trade it for anything. 

The exhilaration of accomplishing an assignment with others, the terror, the screaming, the laughter, the raising of your hands, and the wind blowing in your face.  It’s all part of rollercoasters and it’s all part of leadership.  Would you rather do anything else?!

Also, it was a memory my daughter and I will never forget.  Going back to the price that was paid, ten weeks from now I will have long forgotten how much I paid for us to ride the rollercoaster together.  I’ll never forget, however, how much I received in return.  What a day!

Leaders, tell us a huge price you once paid that was worth every penny.

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