Frequently when people talk about the skills of leadership, they talk about vision, courage, alignment, execution, and other important aspects of leadership. Seldom do experts talk about the energy that leadership requires. Please note that when I talk about leadership, I’m not just referring to leadership in the traditional business world. I’m really talking about any type of leadership, business, community, or social leadership, including the fundamental leadership that is required to create and lead your own intentional life.
I find it interesting and ironic that we rarely talk about the energy of leadership, although leadership is such a physically and emotionally draining activity. To state the obvious, leading requires much more energy than following.
In this way, leadership is similar to cycling. In the world of cycling energy management is extremely critical. Which is why cyclists frequently ride in packs, and most serious cyclists become skilled at drafting behind other cyclists. It’s no secret that when you are on a bike, it’s much easier to ride behind someone as compared to riding in front of someone. When you are drafting, the ride can be between 20-40% easier in terms of energy required. And that’s just physical energy.
Let’s pretend that you and 5 of your closest friends are going out for a long bike ride, and you all want to be as fast and efficient as possible. You would all form a pace line and each of you would ride single file, about 12-24 inches behind each other. Being this close together means that only the first rider is paying attention to the road, while all the other riders are hyper focused on just the person in front of them. Because when there’s only 18 inches between your front tire and your friend’s back tire, you need to pay close attention to what they are doing. Crashing in a pack on a bike is generally a bad thing. As a group you will determine a fairly fast pace that everyone can maintain over a long distance. Let’s pick a speed like 22 mph. In order to maintain this pace you will all have to take turn pulling the line. When you are pulling, you are really working hard -- you are doing the hardest effort. But because you are doing such a hard effort, you’ll only pull for a short period of time, let’s pretend it’s 2 minutes. So for 2 minutes, you are hauling ass, pulling the line to keep the speed of the whole line at 22 mph. Then after 2 minutes, you will drop back to the very back of the line, inside the draft zone, where it’s 20-40% easier, and you’ll recover. The next person who was behind you will pull the line for 2 minutes, and then fall back to the tail of the line. And so on. If you have 6 people in your line, you’ll end up pulling hard for 2 minutes, recovering for 10 minutes, and then repeating this pattern over and over again. This will enable the entire group to average 22 mph. By comparison, if you were riding alone and doing all your own pulling, you might only average 17 mph. By following such a consistent pattern you will maximize your recovery time, and conserve your energy in order to ride farther and faster than you could alone.
When I used to do long training rides in pace lines, I found it interesting that when I became tired, I ‘d still have the physical energy necessary to pull the line, but I no longer had the emotional energy required to pull the line. Pulling the line required many different leadership skills, beyond just brute energy and willpower.
First, when you pulled the line you had to be hyper vigilant about moving cars, traffic lights, potential pedestrians, animals and any other moving obstacles. Anything that was moving could potentially interfere with your pace line. Traffic lights that changed suddenly could require a sudden stop in the pace line. Potholes could create havoc for the line, as could puddles, branches, and the worst possible obstacle – sand. Sand could make wheels spin out of control and sand was just always bad news. Second, you had to be super focused on maintaining an even and consistent pace. If the goal pace for your line was 22 mph, you didn’t want to range between 19 and 25 mph, you wanted to stay right at 22 mph. Changes in speed could also create crashes and irritated riders, so maintaining a very even pace was important for everyone. Third, you needed to be able to quickly use a hand signals to warn the person behind you of any debris in the road. You needed to be able to swerve quickly to miss debris, but also signal to the person behind you to tell them you were going to be swerving. In summary, when you pulled the line, you had to constantly scan your surroundings for risks and challenges, you had to respond quickly, and then immediately warn everyone about your response. To behave otherwise would result in irritated and or injured riders behind you.
When I was training for Ironman and doing 80 mile, 90 mile and 100 mile training rides, it was always easier to ride in a line with my friends. Not only was it more efficient, but it also made the time pass faster because I was constantly changing position in the line. I enjoyed riding in a line except when I was toast. When I was toast, I just couldn’t summon the emotional energy necessary to pull. When I was toast, I just wanted to hang my head in defeat, I just wanted to wiggle my nose and be home already. I also witnessed this same phenomenon in my friends. Some days someone would just burn out, and they wouldn’t be able to do any more pulling at all. Even the strongest riders I rode with had days when they burnt out and we’d have to pull them on home. It happened to everyone eventually. The benefit of riding in a group was that you knew if it happened to you, you’d always have others who could pull you in to home; you’d always have someone else you could follow. No rider was ever left behind.
Which brings me back to leadership. Most leadership roles are not as well organized as a pace line. Leadership doesn’t always rotate on 2 minute intervals and it doesn’t require 18 inches of space between tires. Leadership isn’t about dodging stray dogs or snakes in the road.
But leadership does require more physical and emotional energy than following. Leadership does require you to scan your environment, decide how to respond, and communicate your direction. Leadership requires you to pull others behind you, others who are perfectly happy to cruise inside your draft zone. Leadership is more physically demanding than following.
And so when I speak with people about leading more effectively, I want to know how they are managing their time and energy to build in recovery time. I want to know how they have selected their target pace, and how well they are sticking to their target pace.
More importantly, I want to know about their pace line. Who are they riding with, and do they trust the other riders in their pace line? I want to know if they are riding with people they feel comfortable following. I want to know if they are riding with the right group, a group that will also maintain the target pace, avoid obstacles and eliminate crashes.
I want to know if they are riding with people who will carry them home when they burn out and their head is hanging down on their handlebars and they are too tired to talk. I want to know that the pace line has their back.
Every cyclist has bad days. Every leader burns out. These are guaranteed occurrences. So I ask you, who’s in your pace line? Do you trust them enough to follow them? Will they help you perform better than you would have done alone?
If you want to be a strong leader, either to lead yourself or others, then follow Lance Armstrong's example and make sure you have a strong pace line.
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