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What Dragon Boating Taught Me About Leadership
I don’t know about ducks, but at least I’ve got my dragons in a row.
Leadership is terrifying, but it’s important to face ones fears because it is through challenges that we grow. And so in an effort to face my fears, I was learning the ropes so I could be stand-in Captain on the Tuesday after Easter.
Well also it has to do with the whole broken back issue. I cannot paddle yet. Will not be able to until very near the end of the season I expect. I thought I’d try tilling this year, but it turns out the till is quite a bit heavier than I expected it to be, and overall I was only barely able to control the boat. It was agreed after that that I really shouldn’t till. And if I can’t till and I can’t paddle, then the only place left for me is at the front of the boat. But I’m still so new to dragon boating! This is only my second season, what if I don’t remember enough of the things to say? What if I mess up!
Well I messed up. And guess what? Nobody was mad. It was a simple enough mistake really, I didn’t cause any permanent harm to anyone. And in the process of making a mistake and being corrected, I learned something about leadership.
My mistake was in focusing on myself and the words that I had to say to practice calling a racing start rather than focusing on my paddlers and the pace that they were setting themselves. I may be the one calling the shots, but I’m not the one making the shots. The paddlers themselves make the shots, I just announce them.
Leadership is not about forcing anybody to do anything, leadership is about seeing people’s strengths and helping them use those to the best of their ability. Leadership is helping everybody move in sync. Leadership is facilitating what others create.
Gracetopher Kirk 
Haha. Oh I’m so glad I found your blog! I use to do the dragonboat races too. I don’t live in Portland right now, but dragonboats the best.
Be careful with that back. It’s perhaps lucky that you broke it at a younger age because your body will mend but don’t ..go overboard (says the punny 30 something with a creak in her neck).
And PCT! I’ve tried that too, we prepared for Southern Oregon to Canada, and then went at the wrong time! Snow and bears. You need gear? You can get a lot of cheap stuff at the Salvation Army — you’ve got years and years to prepare, grandma’s hike the PCT and you can always do it in little stints.
I’m actually doing the whole PCT this summer – just bought my plane ticket yesterday! I’m doing it as minimalist as I can
Well I cannot wait to see the beautiful photos you take. Even though our trip ended way sooner then we expected, we still found magic and literal crystals, pink quartz in fact.