Danny Tanner, the Pittsburgh Steelers, Elizabeth Warren, and the Value of Leadership Humility
Q: What can Danny Tanner, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Elizabeth Warren teach you about Leadership Humility?
A: That it’s ok to ask for a little help from your friends.
🆘 Danny Tanner—played by the late Bob Saget on 'Full House'—sought the help of his friend Joey and his brother-in-law Jesse to support Danny's daughters following the death of their mother.
🆘 The Steelers sought the help of the Jaguars, Raiders, and Chargers yesterday to make the playoffs as they helped themselves to an upset road win against the Ravens.
🆘 Senator Warren SHOULD seek help from her friends in Appalachia as her Massachusetts constituents 1) face the potential of blackouts and natural gas shortages this winter; 2) pay far more for energy than residents of Pennsylvania; and 3) rely on imports of natural gas from not-so-friendly Russians.
All that being said, this episode of The Energy Detox will challenge your leadership humility and help you (G)row, (P)rotect, and (S)ustain success by encouraging you to answer these 3 questions:
💡 In what ways is your refusal to seek help hindering your ability to grow?
💡 What do you think you're protecting by ignoring assistance from others?
💡 For how long can you sustain momentum before you need a push or pull from someone else?
Related content:
Instead of relying upon luck (let alone Russia) to maintain reliable and affordable supplies of energy in states like Massachusetts as they head further into winter, this piece from the Marcellus Shale Coalition points out the clear benefits of turning to the proven, domestic, plentiful natural resources available in Appalachia:
New England Grid Operator Warns of Blackouts Should “Luck” Run Out
Image sourced from a December 2021 Marcellus Shale Coalition blog entry; click image above for details.
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Transcript
(AI training in progress; please excuse any errors)
What can the late Bob Saget the Pittsburgh Steelers and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts teach us about leadership, humility. Well, all of those entities point to one thing, and that is the importance of asking others for help. Danny Tanner, again played by Bob Saget, who unfortunately died yesterday at the relatively young age of 65 taught us that it's important, if not necessary to seek the help of friends when you're in dire straits. In the case of Full House Of course, Danny Tanner's wife died, leaving him with his three young daughters and he sought the help of his brother in law Uncle Jesse and his good friend, Joey Gladstone, so that he could lead his family, his daughters to a much better life than he would have if he was trying to do it on his own. And looking at the Pittsburgh Steelers from this past weekend, they needed a lot of help from external sources from other teams in order to preserve the very slim chance of making the playoffs, and lo and behold, they got all that help in pretty dramatic fashion. They of course helped themselves and a overtime victory that again was quite thrilling. They got an unexpected pretty big upset from the Jacksonville Jaguars who were 15 Point underdogs and wound up winning by 15 points against the Indianapolis Colts. And late last night, the Steelers got a I don't wanna say miraculous but they they got a non tired from the chargers and the Raiders when the chargers and the Raiders could have tied they could have both gone to the playoffs. But the Las Vegas Raiders decided to win the game kick a last second field goal there as time expired, sending the Steelers to the playoffs, the Steelers needed help. And they got it. And finally we can look to Senator Elizabeth Warren who of course, has been the topic of a previous episode of the energy detox. And we can look at the rising energy prices in New England and more importantly, the potential for blackouts and natural gas shortages, because of a an ongoing refusal, if you will, by not Senator Warren, at least people who share her sentiment regarding the oil and gas industry and the refusal to have safe, reliable pipelines, bringing natural gas to New England that could substantially lower prices. And again, more importantly, reduce the risk of blackouts reduce the risk of natural gas shortages, that not exactly the thing you want as we head into winter. And so with all of that, again, the point is that Senator Warren should be asking for help. So you should recognize that the ability to have help from those around you from neighboring states like Pennsylvania, is important. It's certainly far more important than relying on help and assistance from those in Russia who have provided a substantial amount of natural gas to people in New England, which again, seems absurd, given the abundance of potential assistance from again here in Appalachia that we have available. So we take all those three things together not to continue to opine about energy policy and, and 80s and 90s television shows and, and the Pittsburgh Steelers in the sports world, but more importantly, to remind you of the importance of seeking help, it seems so rudimentary, right for you, as a leader to be reminded to go out and and seek the help you need. But the reality is certainly the people that I work with, it's easy to forget, right? I don't know how many people reach out and they say, Well, you should have reached out sooner. I didn't realize there was this assistance, or Yeah, admittedly, I tried to do it myself for far too long. And I found myself stuck. I found myself trapped. And inevitably, wouldn't people find that they've wasted time, energy money, because of the refusal to seek out help. And so today, we're going to ask three simple questions of you to make sure that you're on guard against that temptation, that natural tendency, especially in an industry like ours, where again, we pride ourselves on hard work and on some rugged individualism at times and getting the job done at all costs. But again, at all, cost doesn't just mean doing it yourself. Of course, it means looking outward. And the reality is that as people rise up through organizations, it can be more difficult to seek out help, it could be more difficult to admit that you don't know everything. And so today, you don't have to admit that to anybody else. But you do need to admit it to yourself and ask in what ways you can do a better job of seeking the help of others so that you can lead your constituents better so that you can make better decisions so that you're not making short sighted decisions like Senator Warren, and so that you recognize that again, if you're on a sports team that sometimes you know, if you haven't been up to par, if you will, and certainly the Steelers have not exactly had the best season, you might need some help from others. And that's okay. And again, you look at people like, again, the fictional character, Danny Tanner, who recognize as a parent that sometimes you need external help, and that's okay. In fact, it might be necessary for the sake of your family.
04:43
So the three questions for you today to help you ensure that you continue to grow, protect and sustain success for all of your stakeholders, whether they're personal stakeholders, like again, your family, your kids, or certainly professional stakeholders are the following one from a growth standpoint and what way Is your refusal to seek help hindering your ability to grow? In what ways? Are you missing opportunities to grow again yourself as an individual and more importantly, those around you because of your refusal, conscious or unconscious of help? The second question is, in what ways do you think you're protecting? Or what should I what I should say is, what are you protecting? What do you actually think you're protecting, by ignoring assistance from others? Again, one of the most common things that might be difficult to admit, of course, is pride. You're protecting your pride, right? Instead of going out and, and seeking the help of others, you feel lucky, and you could do it yourself. But what else do you think you're protecting? Do you think you're protecting your finances, because you're not going to pay for someone else to help you do whatever, again, whether it's child care, whether it's your taxes, whether it's something else? Do you think you're saving time by again, doing yourself? Again, if you've done any home projects, in many cases, you'll find that doing yourself, no, one's making a lot more time and energy than it would have otherwise, again, there might be a source of pride in it, that might be a source of enjoyment, and that's okay. But in many cases, you probably didn't have that time, you probably didn't have that energy. And in hindsight, you probably should have just asked for help. So what is it that you feel like you're protecting as you, you know, push back on the opportunity to get help from others? And finally, for how long can you sustain momentum before you need a push or pull from someone else. Because if you're one of those people who is on a good trajectory, and you feel yourself, again, ascending to the ranks of an organization or leading your team forward, you look at the financials of your company, and again, things seem healthy, far healthier than perhaps they were a year and a half ago, it's easy to forget the fact that you still need help, or you might need help, or you might find yourself stuck on the side of the road or broken down, if you will. So the question for you is, how long do you think this is going to continue? Before again, you need that push or pull? Ask yourself that answer that question today as you go throughout the day, so that you're on guard for not just opportunities for other people to help you but you're more importantly on guard for those opportunities. When you're going to need to actively seek out help, you're going to actively need to ask around and find a resource that could help move you forward. So with all that being said, again, I encourage you this week, as we head into the next five days to ask these questions, to be on guard for opportunities for other people to help you in addition to you helping yourself and of course, I wish you the best for a safe, healthy, happy, enjoyable week and I thank you as always for tuning into the energy detox