Written on January 7, 2024. Posted on January 16, 2024.
I hope all of you have had a wonderful start to 2024. Mine? It has been interesting. Pretty average. Nothing too exciting yet.
On January 5, 2024, I attended a speech given by the founder of a local charter school to his his charter school. I wanted to share with you what I took from the speech. He used the metaphor / analogy of a “boat crew.” A “boat crew” of oarsmen.
He had recently seen the movie “The Boys in the Boat.” He brought in a cool miniature of an oar with the parts of a school (administration; teachers; scholars; parents) written on the “paddle” part of the oar. LOVE IT.
Basically, he used the boat analogy of the boat and its crew to his school in the sense all the oars need to be in sync. To help get the school’s “oars” in sync, go back to the handbook. A novel idea! (sarcasm) And to make sure his “go back to the handbook” is real, he made sure that each teacher had a copy of the handbook and “invited” all of us to know the handbook and follow it. That handbook is the “coxswain.”
What is happening on many school campuses is they have retreated from their “handbooks.” Their purpose(s).
My theme today is: YOU KNOW THE RULES. FACE THE CONSEQUENCES.
Lose weight? You know the rules. Face the consequences. Eat less. Eat good food. And yes, once in a while, have a piece of cake. How about walking? Get on YouTube and workout with “someone.”
Self-Discipline. You know the rules. Face the consequences. Every choice you make reflects your self-discipline. Do you have the self-discipline to follow the rules? What about self-discipline to also forgive yourself for breaking a rule?
If we are leaders (including not limited to: parents / teachers / administrators / etc.), we are going to be held to a higher level of responsibility. Not only do we have the responsibility to our followers to know and follow the rules, we have the responsibility to enforce the rules.
In the hopes of being liked or avoid confrontation, we (leaders) are not enforcing the rules.
What happens when we don’t follow or enforce the rules? We lose relationships, jobs, a generation, or a nation!
In a boat with oarsmen, think about how the boat is impacted by oarsmen who don’t row or oarsmen who are at a different tempo compared to the other oarsmen. What happens when one side of oarsmen row? Yes. The boat goes in a circle. All those examples of oarsmen working are the same about our lives. When my life’s roles / principles (oars in the water) are not in alignment to my “coxswain” (God), I do feel a drag is happening. I am going nowhere fast.
Going back to the boat analogy. You (the leader) are the coxswain for your family / business. Because you will not follow or enforce the rules (get the crew’s oars moving in sync), your boat (in this case going back to the speech I heard, school or classroom) is not going to be able to win a race, let alone, RACE AT ALL!
I can go on, but I am going to believe you understand the message / theme for today!
To personalize this post – the boat is my life. The “coxswain” is God. Each role I play is an “oarsman” in my boat. When I listen and follow the “coxswain,” the roles of my life seem to all move in sync. He isn’t rowing. I am rowing. Thanks to His (“Coxswain”) guidance, I have a chance to ‘win’ the race. I know
You have been blessed to have people follow you. You have been appointed to be their “coxswain.” Understand that that boat is going to in the direction you, their coxswain, is going to take them.