What Rhymes with “Lead”?
Recently, I had the pleasure of talking with a roomful of young people who attended the Timothy E. Nettles Junior Golf Tournament, or more commonly known as the “TEN Jr.” It’s a tournament my sons began, in memory of their father. Young people, ages 12-18, had applied and were accepted to play two days of competitive golf at Laurel Valley Golf Club in western Pennsylvania. The annual tournament is built on four pillars: youth, education, faith, and leadership. I spent about six minutes talking with the student athletes about leadership.
I asked 72 young people in attendance: “What does it mean to ‘lead’?”
To help answer the question, I asked them to do a little word exercise by turning to the person sitting next to them and, in 15 seconds, name as many words as they could think of that rhyme with the word “lead.”
Then, I told this story:
It was the evening of March 12, 1993. Our younger son Tommy wasn’t born yet, but Chuck, his older brother, was four and a half years old at the time. Chuck was in preschool, and it was time for spring break! So, the three of us --- Chuck, his dad (Tim Nettles), and I --- boarded a plane to fly from Pittsburgh, our home, to Tampa, Florida.
We didn’t realize that history was in the making. The Blizzard of ’93, now called the Storm of the Century, had started developing earlier that day, originating in Florida. It pounded Florida with hurricane force winds and flooding. During the night, the storm headed up the east coast, moved toward Pittsburgh, and dumped more than 23 inches of snow. This storm eventually caused billions of dollars in damage in the eastern part of the United States.
So, lucky us! We were headed south to get out of the snow, but we were flying right into the storm. That flight was like riding a roller coaster --- and not in a good way. Because of the high winds, the Tampa airport closed, and our plane was unable to land there. We circled around in the air for about an hour or so and we were finally diverted to Orlando, which is about 90 miles east of Tampa.
Because every other flight was also diverted, there was a mass of humanity at the Orlando airport, and lots of people still needed to get to Tampa. We were guided to a bus, to travel Interstate 4 from Orlando to Tampa. About halfway there, traffic came to a dead stop. Unfortunately, high winds had knocked down a power line on I-4, and we couldn’t move any further. By now, it was about 5:00 in the morning, and we had been traveling since about 6:00 the night before. Everyone on the bus was exhausted and hungry.
My late husband, Tim Nettles, stood up and counted the number of people on the bus. He spoke a word or two to the driver and hopped off. He walked about a half-mile ahead to the next exit, where there was a McDonald’s. He bought Egg McMuffins and hash browns for everyone on the bus and walked back. Just as he was approaching, traffic began to move, and the bus roared to life again. Chuck was horrified, thinking that the bus was going to leave without his dad. But the driver did slow down, somewhat reluctantly, and Tim quickly climbed on. Our trip to Tampa continued. Fifty people applauded, and everyone ate breakfast as we rode down the highway.
Once the story was over, I asked the audience to think about these words that rhyme with “lead:”
The Word “Need”
Ruth Strafford Peale, wife of Norman Vincent Peale, who died in 2008 at the age of 101, is associated with the phrase, “Find a need and fill it” (Wooding, 2008). Tim Nettles saw a need that night. Fifty people on that bus were hungry and needed something to eat. You could say that he showed great generosity in buying breakfast for about 50 strangers. True, but I’d also call it leadership. A leader figures out what people need and works to make sure they get it. Tim Nettles even made sure the bus driver got breakfast, in spite of the fact that he almost drove off without him.
The Word “Seed”
Author and clergyman Henry Van Dyke (1852-1933) wrote, "Look around for a place to sow a few seeds" (1902). I like to think a little seed of kindness was planted that night on that bus in Florida, when Tim Nettles got off the bus and walked a mile to buy breakfast for 50 tired and hungry people he didn’t know. And that’s leadership. Start something kind by doing something kind. I hope somebody on that bus, more than 30 years ago, remembers the man they didn’t know, who showed leadership and kindness. Maybe one day, they’ll do something similar, and their seed of kindness will grow, producing even more seeds of kindness.
The Word “Read”
A few weeks ago, I was reading some articles about the history of the Blizzard of ‘93. Reading allowed me to recall that event and the things Tim Nettles did. Reading also helped me think about qualities of leadership. Good leaders read --- a lot. And they inform themselves of what is going on in this world --- past and present. It’s okay if you don’t know something. But it’s not okay to stay in that place where you don’t know things. Good leaders don’t stay there. Harry S. Truman famously said, in his book, Truman Speaks: “Not all readers become leaders. But all leaders must be readers” (1960).
Here’s what I hope those young people took away from those few minutes we had together. As young leaders now and future leaders later, I hope they do these things:
Find a need and fill it.
Plant seeds of kindness.
Read and inform yourself about the world.
One of author Stephen Covey’s core leadership principles is this: “What you do has far greater impact than what you say.” So, what did those young people do at the Ten Jr. tournament? They tee-d up, 36 times in two days. There’s a word that rhymes with “lead:” “tee-d.” I hope they played every hole with the confidence and skill that enabled them to play the best two rounds of golf they’d ever played, putting them in the position to earn scholarship money and be seen by college team recruiters.
But more importantly, I hope they remember another word that rhymes with “lead”: the word “deed.” I hope they left the tournament with the mindset that they truly are leaders who are ready to change the world, one good deed at a time.
References
Covey, S. (2020). The seven habits of highly effective people (30th anniversary edition). New York: Simon & Schuster.
Truman, H. (1960). Harry Truman speaks. New York: Columbia University Press.
Van Dyke, H. (1902). Keeping Christmas. Boston: Perry Mason Company.
Wooding, D. (2008). Widow of author Norman Vincent Peale dies at age of 101. https://www.identitynetwork.net/apps/articles/default.asp?articleid=43093&columnid=
