As business coaches, VIM Executive Coaching has gotten wisdom from multiple sources. And, as we’ve been at it for a while, when we say “multiple,” we mean multiple. To be sure, we’ve read, studied, listened to great thinkers and written, but sometimes the true wisdom has come from unusual places.
The Shuttle Bus
Shuttle busses are the ubiquitous conveyance of the road warrior. They dash us about from airport parking lots, rental car agencies, to and from hotels, hotels to downtowns and sometimes on convention outings.
So, it was on one of those longer rides where it was just the shuttle driver and us. A steady drizzle enveloped the mini-bus as we made our way to the downtown area and to an association party held in a museum.
The driver was an affable man in his late 60s and was a great tour guide and effective hotel spokesman. We must admit that it was refreshing to talk to “a real person,” and not someone extolling the virtues of the manufacturer’s association.
We wondered if he enjoyed his work. He did, immensely. In fact, he had been a shuttle driver at the impressive hotel for many years. However, the answer to our next question (“Has the always been your profession?”) shocked us. When he blurted out “EVP,” we thought we had mis-heard. We asked again, this time he spelled it out for us: executive vice president. Then he named the company.
Sometimes (often, actually) in life it is necessary to absorb and respond to a comment, rather than to react in a knee jerk fashion.
“Please feel free to look up my profile on social media. And no, I did not get fired, I walked away on my own.”
He also added that he usually liked to listen to executives rather than reveal much about his past. In fact he found he could rarely penetrate the self-important barriers of many of the executives he shuttled here and there.
For the next 15 minutes
For the next 15 minutes, which passed as though 2-minutes, he told us his story. He had climbed through the ranks of a large manufacturing organization however, the higher he climbed, the more stress he encountered and the more he was met by people who were “closed-off” and unwilling to share and work for common goals.
On the eve of a board meeting, after dealing with a rather domineering CEO and obstinate COO, he felt a pressure on his chest. It was not the first time, but that time, his spouse demanded he go to the hospital. It was (thankfully) not a heart attack, but severe anxiety.
When they returned home, his wife made another demand: quit. The company put up a token effort to make him stay. He was given the usual party, a card, and the requisite imitation Bonsai plant.
What we remember most of his conversation is the following:
“I had never encountered an organization where there was so little mindfulness, so little authenticity and such a lack of compassion. It was dreadful. I see the same traits in many of the people; the executives I shuttle back and forth. It is a serious problem that has gotten worse.”
He said he had abundance; he had enough. He was frugal, saved and invested and made enough as a shuttle driver, but he emphasized that is not the point. He was considered for other positions after he left that organization but he decided to pursue hobbies and interests.
He shared that unless organizations commit to change and to being more aware of their purposes and personal visions, they will fail, as did the company that let him walk away only a few months before they collapsed.
“Without awareness and being aware,” he feared, “other companies will fail as well in this day and age.”