leadership and an astronaut on EVA

I was at a seminar today as part of a leadership program I am doing with work. In the first activity they asked us to pick an image that best described why we are taking the leadership program. The picture above was one of the images so I took it almost immediately. There are so many reasons why this describes my reasons for taking the leadership course that I couldn't share them all in the 1 minute that was provided in my group. This image works on so many levels for me that I thought I'd share some more thoughts.

Since I was a child I dreamed of being an Astronaut. I even went to space camp down in Kansas - 3 times. For someone with an over active imagination, space represents the frontier of one's imagination - there is no limit what you can imagine in space. So while I may have moved on with my dreams to become an Astronaut, my imagination has not. I still keep up on the news about the space program, I still track down and read good sci-fi, every so often I even try and write something about it.

Leadership is all about pushing the limits. And an Astronaut on an EVA* in a MMU** certainly pushes all boundaries currently known to man. And this image represents something a little more materialistic as well - this man has gone about as high as anyone can go. I am currently near the bottom of my organization. I hope to learn the skills and prove myself so that I can advance and move up in this organization. This will of course take time.

An Astronaut is a highly trained scientist and are often the top researchers, engineers and pilots in the world. This picture respresents years of training and research. And while we only see one person in this photo, literally thousands of people are responsible for making this one spacewalk possible. Only this photo was taken in a vacuum, the achievements of many are represented in the photo. A successful leader must work with and have the backing of the people he or she led in order to achieve what he or she sets out to achieve.

As a kid, I knew the name of the Astronaut in this photo. I had to look it up tonight. Few people will know the name of Bruce McCandless but most will recoginize this photo. The same applies to leadership - the results of a leader will often be known rather than the name of the individual. From developing a new social program, to designing additions to a city to educating and mobilizing the public on an important social issue, we don't often remember the names of the leaders who led us, but we will remember their achievements. Not all of us can Barak Obama or Jim Ballsillie - but leaders from any level in an organization can achieve great things.

So I hope as I start my career and complete this leadership program I can learn something from those who have went before me and help to bring about some positive change - somewhere. It will take time and discipline, but I believe it will be worth it.