Cheaper Than The Bumper On A 4Runner
I #failed. I performed the task probably hundreds or maybe even thousands of times before. But this time was different. This time—BANG!
OK, maybe not bang, but that’s the sound my ego heard. It was embarrassing.
In 2016 I worked in a building with a parking structure. One morning, as I made the wide left turn into my spot between two cars, I rubbed the bumper of the car next to me. There actually was no bang or bump or much of an indication at all that I had hit the car, except I noticed it was bouncing a little as I pulled into my spot.
I literally said out loud to no one in particular, “did I hit that car?”
I got out, already convinced it was my imagination. I know how to park a car for heaven’s sake, I have literally been driving for decades. Just to put my mind at ease, I glanced at the bumper of the SUV.
DAMMIT.
I just looked it up. That minor mishap cost me $438.56 and a good deal of pride.
This is the actual invoice for my little “mishap.”
Here’s the thing. To get your driver’s license in most states requires classroom training, behind the wheel training, driving experience, and a driving test. It’s nearly 100 hours of training and practice, all of which I had done. Add to that the hundreds of thousands of miles I have driven since getting my license and you could probably say I am a professional—yet I still had a mishap.
Most companies promote engineers into leadership roles without ANY training or practice, and then expect there will be no mishaps. That’s just ridiculous. It’s also why Stephanie Van Assche and I created Lead Out Loud, a leadership training program geared towards engineers who want to be more confident, effective leaders. The program is modular and the cohorts are intentionally small to maximize the ability to practice with real-world scenarios.
If I’m being perfectly candid, we designed it with companies in mind, but this is what we've realized:
We are both very passionate about helping engineers be better leaders, and we want the program to have the largest reach possible.
There are tons of individuals who crave leadership development but have trouble getting it funded by their organization.
If we offer a reduced price cohort to individuals, we can help more people.
So we started offering Leadership Essentials as an “ad-hoc” cohort. These are three one-hour meetings held remotely, but with people paying individually and not all necessarily from the same company. Each one-hour session includes instruction, real-world scenarios, and what we like to call “messy learning.” They are short enough to fit into your day, yet packed with enough punch that you’ll be able to implement strategies immediately—maybe even sooner.
Here’s the best part: IT'S CHEAPER THAN THE BUMPER ON A 4RUNNER.
In fact, if you mess up in an LOL session—THAT’S OK! Mess up with us so you don’t have to mess up in real life. We look forward to LOLing with you!
