Hello, and welcome to "The Resilient Leader." Coach Charlotte here with the topic of get out of the stampede.
I recently had the opportunity to visit the Fort Worth Stockyards in Texas, where we watched their famous cattle drive. Twice every day, the Longhorns make their way down the street, and it's quite a sight to see. As I stood there watching, I couldn't help but think about the old cattle drives, where hundreds, sometimes thousands of cattle were moving together. And then I thought about what happened when something spooked the herd. A stampede.
Suddenly, the cattle weren't calmly moving toward a destination anymore. They were running, following the cattle in front of them, reacting to noise and chaos that's around them. And it made me think, how often do we live in our lives like we're in a stampede? Everyone around us is moving so fast, we move fast too. Comments are made on social media, the news comes, and the stampede begins. And before we know it, we're part of the stampede.
But there's a problem there with the stampede. There's a lot of movement, but not in the right direction.
How can we apply this in our leadership? Sometimes the best thing you can do is get out of the stampede. Step to the side. Stop running for a minute. Look around. Ask yourself, where am I actually going? Is everything I'm rushing toward really important? Am I choosing my direction, or am I simply following the herd in this stampede?
As leaders, we have to recognize when we're moving with purpose and when we're simply being carried along by the pace and pressure of those around us. Because being busy doesn't always mean you're making progress. And moving faster doesn't necessarily get us where we need to go.
Sometimes leadership requires us to step out of the noise long enough to regain our perspective, to reassess our priorities, to make intentional decisions, and then when we're ready, step back in. But this time with direction and purpose.
Don't let the stampede determine your direction. Step out of the herd to see where you're really going. And never get so busy moving that you forget where you're going.
I hope this was a blessing to you. Have an amazing week, my friends. Take care.