Listen to the Engine

Mark Eppler in his 10 Leadership Musts shares a story about listening to the Engine. Eppler says "I met a railroad engineer recently, the guy who actually drives the train. I told him that as a boy I loved seeing the engineers, whistle rope in hand, leaning out the window to inspect the tracks as they drove by. "Actually," the man said, "that's not exactly what they were doing." He went on to tell me that the primary reason the engineer sticks his head out of the cab isn't to check the tracks but to listen to the engine. "He's so familiar with his machine," the engineer said, "he can easily catch something wrong with his ears alone."

The best way to keep your engine (team) on track is to listen ... really listen ... to it daily.

How many times in our family, sports or corporate team do we NOT pay attention to the signs of the times. People are talking and we arn't listening. NHL coach Pat Quinn says "they say that coaches lose the room... but I don't agree. Coaches don't lose the room rather players start listening to a different voice."

Whose voice is your team listening to... and are you listening to see how your engine is running?