Experiencing Breakthrough Vision and Performance with Coach Sean Cox

The sight was startling.  It was one of those windy days in Chicago.  I entered the second story office, and my friend’s desk, which sat next to a window, had the large fixture of a street light awkwardly “resting” on her desk.  Scattered all over the desk and floor were shards of glass, while the street light pole extended out the window and down to the ground.

What happened?   Apparently the wind was strong enough to loosen the streetlight from its moorings, blowing it over and sending it crashing  violently through my friend’s window.  Scary.  Fortunately she was away from her desk at a meeting.

This gets me thinking about the importance of flexibility.  Flexible things are able to expand or contract according to the demands put on them—they are able to bend but not break.

Inflexible things, on the other hand, are rigid and brittle.  Under pressure, they snap.

A rubber band is flexible.  A pencil is inflexible.  With moderate stress, a rubber band will stretch to an increased capacity while a pencil will snap in two.

Objects aren’t the only things that have these qualities.  People also can be either rigid or flexible.  We can be like rubber bands or like pencils–in how we think, how we act, and how we make choices.

Have you ever worked for someone who was too rigid?  Maybe it was how they processed information or made decisions, or perhaps it showed up in how they behaved as leaders.

Of course, we’re complex as people, and not simply “flexible” or “rigid”.  It often depends on what area of life we’re talking about.  It’s not uncommon for us to have some areas where we’re more-or-less flexible and others where we may be more-or-less rigid.

That being said, some people are, in general, too rigid.  They have a limited capacity, for whatever reason,  to adjust and flex to the changing ideas and circumstances in the world around them.

Now, I understand that there are times when being rigid actually is best.

An Army drill sergeant is rigid, and needs to be.  “My way or the highway”.  There’s no room for negotiating with your drill sergeant in basic training.   “Sir, I’d prefer to stay in bed this morning instead of going on our 5-mile run up the mountain”.  That’s not really an option.

This kind of “rigidity” serves a good purpose, though.  It quickly shapes and forms a young recruit into a lean, mean, fighting machine, which may one day save his life, and maybe even the lives of those in his platoon.

But this is not the kind of rigidity I’m talking about today.  What I’m talking about is the kind of rigidity that causes us to be less effective, personally or professionally, in some way.

This is where being flexible is premier.  I talk about this in the section on resilience in my eBook “7 Killer Mistakes”.

The world offers us many examples of the importance of flexibility:

• bodies that are inflexible pull muscles—ever pull a hamstring?

• businesses that aren’t flexible don’t adjust to the demands of the market and end up “eating the dust” of their competitors, getting left behind, and eventually becoming irrelevant

• musicians that aren’t flexible can’t improvise very well and probably won’t play jazz or perform any hot guitar solos in a jam session

• trees that aren’t flexible snap in high velocity winds (as opposed to that big weeping willow)

• thinking that isn’t flexible is closed to some of the facts which results in making short-sighted interpretations and conclusions.

• also, thinking that isn’t flexible fails to see possibilities, which results in not seeing opportunities

• armies that aren’t flexible are defeated, because they can’t adjust to unexpected scenarios on the battlefield

• motorists here in Chicago that aren’t flexible, in the middle of busy traffic, may either slow traffic down or even create unsafe driving conditions, because they aren’t adjusting to the ever-shifting patterns of traffic

• quarterbacks that aren’t flexible have difficulty calling audibles and switching plays at the line of scrimmage because they aren’t adjusting to unexpected changes in the defense.

• politicians that aren’t flexible have difficulty going beyond their carefully orchestrated “script” of meaningless sound bytes, because they can’t think on their feet, adjust to their opponents in–the-moment rhetoric, and have a free-flowing debate.

• Skyscrapers that are built with out the ability to flex in the higher velocity winds will experience structural damage

• Same with bridges—they need to be built with the ability to flex a bit.

So, flexibility, or resilience, is a crucial life skill!

Resilience makes us better, at work and at home, by empowering us to make optimal adjustments to changing conditions in the world around us.  And hey, the world is always changing, which is why this is pretty important.

What do you think?  What are some other examples of flexibility/rigidity?  And how is your “flexibility factor”?

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I was driving down Lake Shore Drive (LSD to us Chicagoans) recently.  It’s my favorite stretch of pavement in all of Chicago, probably of anywhere–four lanes stretching the length of much of the city, generally following the shoreline of Lake Michigan to the east, and the changing views of urban sprawl to the west.  It provides stunning views of downtown.  Hey, even a pop song was written to honor this great roadway!

It was a weekday morning, just after rush hour, with a remnant of traffic still careening around the various twists and turns of LSD.  As I came around  one of the bends in the road, I saw a lone seagull,  standing as still as a statue, in the middle of the road.  The traffic hadn’t reached it yet.

What ran through my mind was not only how out-of-place this seagull looked, but how oblivious it was to the clear and present danger approaching it—impatient commuters racing downtown,  most of whom wouldn’t have thought twice about flattening it into a pancake.

Are you ever like this seagull?  Have you put yourself in situations where you have an unrealistic view of the potential threats, perils, or negative consequences?

I’ve written on the opposite of this—how people get stuck in fear, running from things that are not as dangerous as they are imagined to be.  As a result, these folks (all of us at some point, let’s be honest) miss out on important opportunities, perhaps even becoming disengaged from vital parts of life.

Today, however, I’m talking about the flipside of the coin:  rushing headlong into situations that can cost us dearly.

Taking risks is critical to moving our lives, our businesses, and our relationships forward.  BUT there is a huge difference between taking smart risks and taking dumb risks.

Was it really worth it to that bird to hang out in the middle of LSD?

Well, that depends, in part, on the potential benefits.  Did the seagull think there was food there?  Perhaps it thought this was a serene place to stand and ponder it’s future plans as a seagull.  Maybe it was hiding from a bully seagull (“he’ll never find me here.”).

Or, maybe it just landed, thoughtlessly (which can be another problem for us to avoid—mindlessly going through life).

Obviously the potential benefits only make sense in comparison to the potential costs.  Some risks aren’t worth it because the cost is too big if things don’t work out.

I’m guessing the potential benefits for this seagull on LSD were far outweighed by the potential costs.  But hey, I’m not a seagull.

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