Every holiday season, the networks treat us to Frank Capra’s 1946 masterpiece, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” It almost never fails that a VIM Executive Coaching client brings it to our attention. Strangely, as we post this piece, it is summer and nearly 90-degrees, and the movie still comes up in conversation as it did last week.
For our part, there is an unintended piece of wisdom uttered to George Bailey by their trusted housekeeper, that never fails to resonate with us. To paraphrase, “Don’t let the seeds get in the way of the watermelon.” It is more sage than you might imagine. We’ll soon get to that point.
For our clients, they enjoy the movie because of the authenticity and mindfulness of an executive such as George Bailey who stands by their word no matter how bleak the times or daunting the challenge.
Even if you have seen the movie before, it is well worth examining it from the stand-point of compassion and making good decisions in the moment; of caring for others as you hopefully care for yourself; of being the same person to those higher or lower, rich or poor.
Back to the quote
The reason “Don’t let the seeds get in the way of the watermelon,” strikes at the heart of the VIM Executive Coaching teaching is its true and dependable sentiment. In business life, we are invariably confronted by inconvenient, sometimes painful circumstances. From the entrepreneur of a four-person woodworking shop who struggles to make payroll to the CEO of a major company who has been informed the sales department has been implicated in bribery, the challenges are always present. It is never easy to be successful but it is made easier if an executive leader is more mindful.
Mindful executives come to understand that when something goes sour, it doesn’t mean that everything is rotten.
It is our approach to business and life itself, that defines all of us. It is a guarantee something will come up in our daily work lives. The question is one of how we will handle it.
Who reading this, for example, could have anticipated a pandemic? In 2018, it was a non-existent possibility. Indeed, within the challenge of 2019 turning to 2020, some executive leaders threw up their hands and walked away, while others saw a different means to deal with the problem and developed a different mindset to what lay ahead.
There have always been those who exclaim that they are without problems and that their employees can either tow the line or leave. They are the executive leaders who issue ultimatums. They are reactive rather than responsive.
Times have indeed changed and it is a guarantee the reactive executive leader will lose valuable people. More recently, inflexible executive leaders have learned this lesson the hard way as millions of employees changed jobs as the pandemic lifted. Why did they leave? It wasn’t salary, it was that they didn’t feel valued.
Mindful executives and watermelon
Those executive leaders who are mindful, flexible and open to change, those who listen and have learned to exercise compassion, enjoy the watermelon so to speak. They are responsive and endear themselves to their workplaces even if times become a challenge.
Sadly, those who are stubborn and inflexible are becoming anachronisms. It is truly old-school thinking no matter their physical age.
For whether we think of life in terms of seeds in watermelons or inflexible trees breaking in the wind, we should appreciate that those who have chosen a mindful and authentic path will survive in these tough times.