“Something very beautiful happens to people when their world has fallen apart: a humility, a nobility, a higher intelligence emerges at just the point when our knees hit the floor.”

― Marianne Williamson

I knew immediately that Miguel was a leader. I met Miguel 15 years ago when he was 21 and had been hired by my best friend Pete to run a stamping press in his manufacturing company. Miguel was in a group of managers and high potentials that participated in a yearlong managerial development series.

I was the facilitator of this series and was twice Miguel’s age. I was just fifteen years into my career in the field of organizational and leadership development but I could see, smell, and feel the leadership radiating from Miguel. I told my friend and client Pete, “He is a diamond in the rough, develop him, mentor him, give him more responsibility.”

Miguel embraced learning. Asked good questions. Helped others. And his instincts for doing the right thing were already developed.

Yesterday, I stopped by the plant to drop something off for Pete and rang Miguel’s cell phone. He came out of the plant and we talked — I sat in the car while he stood a safe distance away.

I was happy to see Miguel. He is now the Plant and Tool Room Manager of this thriving manufacturing company that is still running throughout the COVID-19 crisis. Miguel and I share a love for dogs. Miguel has followed my dog adventures and this past spring helped to heal the hurt of losing Big Boy to cancer with a French Bull Dog puppy from a litter that he had bred. I wanted to show Miguel a video of confident Crook walking on the Lake Erie shoreline and playing in the water. I also wanted to learn how Miguel was coping during this very serious time in our lives.

With his cell phone in hand to watch for incoming calls and questions — he is always shouldering his responsibility — we talked for a good while. After a few minutes I grabbed a pen and paper and started to make notes as Miguel was sharing his thoughts and feelings and I was drinking from his servant leadership cup.

Miguel steps up and steps in, especially when leadership is needed. He understands the weightiness of the responsibility to keep people safe while at the same time keeping the organization healthy. The company is blessed with increased orders and the workforce is grateful to be actively employed.

He is a great listener and understands the fear that individuals feel. His empathy is authentic and he meets each person where they are without judgement. He advocates for increased rigor. He also initiates recognition and appreciation. This week they are polishing an appreciation video featuring all of the employees and they will start daily random acts of appreciation to recognize the efforts of the workforce.

Miguel is this wonderful combination of matter-of-fact action and heartfelt compassion. He shared with me that he manned a press during this past month when they were shorthanded because it was the right thing to do.

I still see the young man in front of me — who is now 37 years old, with a wife and two daughters, and a pack of dogs. How did he become so wise? I smile and beam at his stories and am grateful for his leadership actions.

I share with Miguel that I am passionate about leadership. I have come to recognize that leadership is the most important ingredient to organization health. And lastly, that I so appreciated his leadership.

Miguel, being both humble and confident, turns and shares a complement with me. He says that he learned and affirmed much of what he knows during that year of development that we shared. He then says that one of the many things he draws upon from the content is “Don’t over react; but don’t under react, either.”

Each day, Miguel strives to make decisions that are responsible to the person and to the organization. He asks himself, “How would I feel if I was that person?” when making a decision. His internal compass is “Did I do everything that I could?”

I am proud to know Miguel. Proud to be his friend. Grateful that my friend Pete has him running the plant. And, so very appreciative that there are leaders in our world like Miguel, especial at this time.

Before we parted I asked him how he and his family were managing during this time. Miguel replied with a smile and shared that social distancing has been good for him and his family. They, of course, are missing being with both his and his wife’s parents but stop by and talk with them from a distance. He said that this pause in their busy life is giving them time together and that they are using the time. They have bought bikes which he assembled and now ride together exploring their neighborhood.

I can confidently say that Miguel is a good leader and also a good spouse and father. The stories of his partnership with his wife and his attentiveness to his daughters warms my heart. I drove away with the visualization of four cyclist riding into the afternoon sun. I also drove away inspired to go the distance and rise to the leadership needed for this time and for our organization, communities, and nation.

Thank you Miguel.

• Have you ever found a diamond in the rough person and watch their growth?

• Are you helping to develop those around you?

• Are you stretching your leadership capability?

What inspires you?

Leslie

“We can let the circumstances of our lives harden us so that we become increasingly resentful and afraid,
or we can let them soften us, and make us kinder.
You always have a choice.”

― Dalai Lama