Leaders are Readers

First You Have to Row a Little Boat: Reflections on Life & Living, by Richard Bode

“I sat in the center of the dinghy, facing the stern, my destination somewhere behind me, a landfall I couldn’t see.  I had to judge where I was headed from where I had been, an acquired perception which has served me well – for the goals of my life, and especially my work, haven’t always been visible points of light on shore that looms in front of me”.

As leaders, academics and advancing professionals we find ourselves deep in the pages of many authors.  Most of our books are disciplinarily technical or informative on haw to maximize the products and teams around us.  But, every now and then we need a break.  We exercise, spend time with family, travel and even engage in personal reading that helps us escape, know ourselves better or simply feel entertained.  Bode does all of those three in his easy read First You Have to Row a Little Boat.  I’ve known this for some years now and find myself circling back every so often for a refresher.  As a sailor myself I’ve learned much from my experiences outside, both personal and professional.  Bode takes his waterside life-lessons and unpacks them in 20 short chapters.

The book tells the story of his growing up on Long Island, an adopted son to his uncle, and maturing around the water, his disappointment in not teaching his own children how to sail and the lessons that can be learned from such sea adventures.  Beginning with the baby steps of first rowing a little boat, and how looking at your past informs your future, he takes each chapter to share a piece of his story, trials, journeys then - builds them into the life lesson that begin to shape his worldview.  It’s a philosophical trail of word pictures, which become parables of how we guide our lives.  

Duane and I have had a great time chatting and applying his chapter “The Shortest Distance Between Two points is a ZigZag Line”.  In here Bode talks about attempting to fetch the destination of a distant beach in his small blue sloop, which happens to be straight up wind.  He can’t head directly for it but rather must tack back and forth, often not aiming for his goal in order to actually achieve his goal.  From here he distills the meaning into life realities, much like politics of work or struggles in education.  

I personally read this for pleaser and individual grounding.  But, the lessons are difficult not to apply to leadership and a professional life outside of quite couch time.  It’s a light sailor’s tale that in short order creates a great foundation for spiritual, environmental, intrinsic leadership contemplation.  “God gave the wind.  It might blow from the east, west, north, or south.  It might gust; it might fall off to practically nothing.  It might leave me dead becalmed.  I didn’t pick the wind; that was imposed by a power far greater than myself.  But I had to sail the wind – against it, with it, sideways to it; I had to wait it out with the patience of Job when it didn’t – if I wanted to move myself from where I was to where I wanted to go”.  Is that just not how we feel many days when dressing for work?  Done forget to enjoy the gentle side of reading when leading.