For years, I have enjoyed and shared the quote, “Leaders are like eagles, they don’t flock, you find them each one at a time.” Recently a good friend and colleague of mine, Steve Franks, shared this leadership story in one of our weekly safety team meetings.
I’ve been taking a public bus for years. Most passengers were going to work and almost no one ever talked to anyone else. About a year ago, an elderly man got on the bus and said loudly to the driver, ‘Good Morning!’ Most people looked up annoyed and the bus driver just grunted. The next day the man got on at the same spot and again he said loudly, ‘Good Morning!’ to the driver. By the fifth day, the driver greeted the man with a cheerful, ‘Good Morning!’ And Benny said loudly, ‘My name is Benny. What’s yours?’ The driver said his name was Ralph.
This was the first time any of us heard the driver’s name and soon people began to talk to each other and say hello to Ralph and Benny. After about one month, Benny extended his cheerful ‘Good Morning!’ to the whole bus. Within a few days his ‘Good Morning!’ was returned by a whole bunch of ‘Good Mornings’ and the entire bus seemed to be friendlier.
If a leader is someone who makes something happen, Benny was our leader in friendliness.
A month ago, Benny stopped getting on the bus. Some of us thought he died, and no one knew what to do. The bus got awfully quiet again. So, I started to act like Benny and say, ‘Good Morning!’ to everyone and they cheered up again. I guess I’m now a leader.
Any leadership book will almost certainly discuss the concept of change, and in the story, we encounter the transformational cultural change of the daily bus experience. Change, however, is simultaneously both easy and difficult.
Change is easy because the conscientious action of the leader is so incredibly simple: ‘Good Morning!’ Too often, there is an unfortunate tendency to think that leadership is an amorphous action or innovative idea reserved for those either in existing positions of authority or aspirant idealists. But anyone can be a leader, because it doesn’t take any exorbitant amount of effort to do small things that cost nothing. How often in our daily lives do we navigate by those around us without exchanging our own simple version of a ‘Good Morning!’?
Change is also simultaneously extremely difficult. Benny did not simply board the bus and immediately affect change. Having boarded the bus that first day with his resounding greeting, Benny receives a dismissive grunt from the driver and the annoyed stares of his co-riders. But proper leaders are not dissuaded by failure. Failure is, by its very nature, part of the process of success. This pattern then continues day, after day, after day, after day. Only after the proverbial fifth ride did the driver even return Benny’s simple ‘Good Morning!’ By the fifth day, there had been no transformational cultural change to the bus, because only the driver had finally reciprocated.
The driver, then, is Benny’s first “small win.” In leadership, the first small win is vitally important. Ralph needed Benny, and Benny needed Ralph. Benny’s focus on the driver is consequential for two reasons. The driver is the very first person that Benny encounters when the bus doors open, and secondly, the driver is the most consistent member of the bus every single day. By his consistent, sincere connection, Benny has achieved his first adopter.
Benny also capitalizes on the small win by expanding further, “My name is Benny. What’s yours?” If getting the driver to reciprocate was Benny’s first small win, then what becomes the immediate next goal? Another small win: “My name is Ralph.” Too often there is a tendency to shift focus to the entire team at the first sense of a small win, but oftentimes, it is of the utmost importance to foster the new relationship with the first adopter. In the story, it is subtly noted, “This was the first time any of us heard the driver’s name.” The bus now sees the first adopter, but without the additional small win of learning Ralph’s name, it somehow did not quite resonate with anyone else.
Once Benny finds Ralph and wins Ralph’s heart and mind, the others on the bus see the first adopter and then begin to consider following suit thereafter. Too often, efforts to change fail because they stop short of the goal by declaring victory over the steps achieved, rather than focusing on the remaining tasks at hand.
Let’s face it, this is hard work. Having one person return the ‘Good Morning!’ was never Benny’s end goal, the goal was the transformational change of the bus. It is noteworthy, then, that Benny need not individually convert the hearts and minds of each member of the bus. Rather, “soon people began to talk to each other.”
With the soil made increasingly fertile, the seeds take root and prosper.
The growing process never seems to occur quite at the pace we would like to enjoy. Note the phrase in the story, “after about a month, Benny extended his cheerful ‘Good Morning!’ to the whole bus.” Most everyone on the bus saw the first adopter, learned his name, and yet, the cultural, transformational change still took an entire extra month to bear fruit! Unwavering in his commitment and values, Benny invests the additional month to ensure the rooting of the transformational change to the rest of the bus.
Having led transformational change efforts – some successfully and many that have failed – it never ceases to amaze me that despite my own optimism, the bus simply does not immediately return my ‘Good Morning!’ In what remains today one of my proudest accomplishments, I successfully worked with our team to increase important training to our entire service, advisory, management, and (yes) sales teams. It took more than a year.
Focusing on the first small win I could find, I honed in on one division of our company willing to walk with me. They became my first adopters. When I had a Ralph, I had my first small wins.
Monthly, weekly, daily, and one conversation at a time, I was extending my own ‘Good Morning!’ to those I encountered and explaining the ‘why.’ It advanced one teammate by one teammate. That division became an adopter and an advocate. After tending to the soil for more than a year, I was so pleased the bus returned the ‘Good Morning!’
There is one notable way in which the story of Benny on the bus diverges from the single greatest challenge facing businesses today – who is on the bus. The single greatest challenge facing business today is making sure the right teammates are identified, on-boarded, and remain on the bus. On a public bus, Benny has very little to no control over who rides the bus with him. This offers its own admirable lesson that being kind to everyone, no matter their background or circumstances, is extremely important and shouldn’t be overlooked.
But, what if Benny might have a say over who was on the bus? What if rather than being greeted by a grunt or annoyed stares, Benny could have input into the core values of the bus itself and the competencies of those riding the bus? Two additional realities would surely unfold:
First, by conscientiously investing in the identification, onboarding, and retention of bus riders with the competencies that are prone to return Benny’s greeting, Benny would more efficiently affect cultural change on the bus. Perhaps it would not take five days for the driver to reciprocate, or an additional month to focus on the back of the bus. Let’s face it, some folks simply are not programmed to return a ‘Good Morning!’ If we truly believe that taking care of our customers means first taking care of our teammates, then investing in the identification, onboarding, and retention of teammates to ride our bus is our number one priority.
Second, imagine being a new rider on this bus where everyone is shouting ‘Good Morning!’ to each other every time the door opens. Once established, the culture of the bus becomes rooted and “the entire bus seemed to be friendlier.” This, of course, naturally replicates itself among new riders who must decide whether to slowly back out the bus door and wait for the next one due to their own discomfort. Or, new riders can chose to embrace the culture of this uncommonly friendly bus and the core values, customs and practices.
Your teammates riding the bus are waiting to be inspired. My guess is that this article is being read amidst the chaos and noise of your day. Likely there are customers to service, emails to attend to, reports to review, and all other matters of business. For all the reasons it is easy to continue riding the quiet bus, it is more important to say, ‘Good Morning!’
Like an eagle, Benny soars away, and no one knows precisely where he has gone. Leaders inspire those in their presence by leaving a lasting presence in their absence.
It is true that in life, there are those that will come into our lives and exit. Some will stay and linger while others will be more transient. The bus, left momentarily “leaderless” after having lost sight and sound of its leader, grows quiet.
But those on the bus are different. As the leader, Benny had made something happen. No one was necessarily conscientious in those moments of change because it happened almost imperceptibly. And while in the absence of the original leader, there was left only the deafening sound of silence. But change had taken root, and new leadership emerged.
I wish you and your teammates much personal and professional happiness, health, and success. Good Morning!
