Leadership Lessons from Kid Pop Culture

Mar 19

Hand drawn cartoon of three people with swirls about their head

A couple weeks back, Max was having his weekly sleep over at our place. As we’re getting ready for bed, he comes racing downstairs, heads to the freezer, grabs an ice cube, looks up and asks,

"Can I have a spoon ?"

"Sure thing buddy. What’s with the pyjamas ?"

"It’s for a snow day tomorrow."

"What do you mean, snow day ?"

"I’m going to flush the ice cube down the toilet, sleep with the spoon under my pillow and I’ve got my jammies on inside out and backwards. And I’m not the only one doing this !"

Apparently, it’s a thing !

He smiles and dashes upstairs to bed.

How did his plan work out ? Well as much as I was hoping for a snow day for him, everything was open and Max happily trudged up the hill to school !

I love the passion, energy and hope behind this idea that is widespread in kid pop culture and it got me thinking about how we as adults try to control what cannot be uncontrolled.

Think about some of the business practices we believe,

if we communicate the reasons, people will embrace change
if I am polite and courteous, others will act similarly
if we use a rigorous system of measurement and feedback, people will be accountable
if I tell the truth and demonstrate genuine care, people will be loyal
if I am honest to others, they will respond with honesty
if we offer flexible work arrangements, people won’t take advantage of it

Make no mistake these are attempts at controlling the uncontrollable. I believe it’s absolutely necessary to live by these practices but here's the lesson—don’t get bent out of shape when it doesn’t go as you hoped. Max didn’t.

It’s difficult to avoid being disappointed or frustrated at times like these but your mindset and how you lead, need not be defined by others. The practice of gratitude can help you be the influential leader you aspire to be. Here’s how.

By building a grateful mindset you strengthen your ability to:

perceive less stress in situations
have less anxiety
feel more autonomy
positively cope
experience less emotional exhaustion
be more future focused
not burnout
be more likely to achieve important life goals

Gratitude actually helps you build a mindset that enables you to double down on how you respond by influencing the only aspect of life that you can actually control, which is—what you think !

This isn’t something new. Go back 2000 years, before there was any scientific evidence, the Stoics argued the only thing you can control is what you think. And they spent their lifetimes trying to master their thoughts to avoid the puppet-on-strings mindset fuelled by impulsive thinking.