The Unexpected Leader

11Finding New Opportunities

Early one Sunday morning, as I was deep into the groove of writing this book, a dear friend of mine sent me a text message. While he and I have been good friends since we both worked at the Royal Oak YMCA in metro Detroit more than 15 years ago, we're the kind of friends who probably only communicate with each other a few times a year. Yet every time we do connect, it's meaningful, it's memorable, and it's genuine.

So this time when he reached out to me, his message started like it always does, “How's it going Jax?” Although I was in the throes of writing, I quickly broke my deep concentration to respond to him because I know these messages are few and far between. He shared with me that he recalled I was on a corporate board and that he had recently been asked to be a chair of the board for an organization that he was involved with. He also shared that he was incredibly fearful and anxious about assuming this position. He never had aspirations of being the board chair and was quite surprised when someone asked him. Now, of course, because of who I am, I quickly assured him that he was capable and ready, so that any doubt that he had in his mind would be minimized.

I tell you this story to illustrate that many times opportunities are presented to us and if we're not willing to be brave and bold and to open our eyes to these occasions, we can quickly disregard them or even respond immediately, “I'm not ready.”

We can fall into the trap of disregarding ...