Yellowlights

Some time ago I went for a walk with a friend, and she mentioned that she had been listening to a podcast with Matthew McConaughey – the actor. The podcast reminded her of me and some of the ways I approach and think about business. The podcast was about his book Greenlights.

Now, I must confess, I haven’t read McConaughey’s book. However, from what she told me, it is some sort of metaphor comparing traffic lights with moments in life. When it is time to go – green light, when you are in an intersection and need to decide whether to go or stop– yellow light, and when it is time to stop, reflect or not pursue something - red light. It seems like a simple analogy; although I am sure the book offers way more than just that; but I like it. It puts, in really simple terms, what I believe may be one of the most important skills that one should master as a business owner or a leader.

As business owners or leaders, we are constantly bombarded by potential opportunities to take new paths or do more things. These may be new partnerships, new product ideas or lines, geographical expansions, new marketing channels, new projects, etc...and I feel one of the most critical skills as a leader is to know which ones to pursue and which ones to let pass to the keeper. There is also a lot of people that try to get into our inbox or calendar; and there is a tendency with leaders and business owners to continuously be doing things to feel productive or useful. But the real art of leadership is to know which opportunities to chase. The struggle is, with the limited time and resources we have, if we are too busy doing stuff, high chances are, we won’t be making the right decisions.

The same applies to leadership. I see many leaders who need to be present and at the centre of the action all the time. Even when it is not needed. The same way that leadership is about knowing what opportunities to chase; it is also about when it is time to be actively leading and when it is time to let others take centre stage.

So, how does one know which opportunities to chase or when to be at the forefront as a leader?
Well, that is the million-dollar question. In my mind, it comes down to experience, being in sync with the environment and intuition. Experience is about all the times we have seen or lived similar situations in the past; did we make mistakes and did we learn from those. Does this situation feel familiar and what happened before? Being in sync with the environment is about sensing, feeling, seeing what is happening around you. What are the messages the different elements in your system are sending you? What are you hearing in the market, with your clients, with your team members, with your competitors? And finally, intuition is about what is your heart or your gut telling you about that moment or opportunity? Is it time to press the pedal and go quick because it is a green light? Or is it time to stay still and calm and not pursue it or not take the centre stage.

If I understood McConaughey ’s book analogy right; in my opinion, I feel the art of leadership is to try to be as much as possible in a yellow light
mode. That is to not be constantly on a “go mode”, but also not to be permanently inactive or absent. And that is a very difficult thing to do because we tend to go from one side of the pendulum to the other. We are either very busy and active, or we retreat and collapse. So, the skill to master is to continuously bring ourselves to that centre or yellow light. The place where we are not overwhelmed by busyness or completely removed from the action.

Personally, I am not great at meditating; but it feels a bit like what I have learnt from it. Being able to bring ourselves to the centre when our mind rushes and be present without necessarily taking action. And like in meditation, the skill is not so much about having our mind constantly “empty”; but how quickly can we bring ourselves to the centre when we are not. How quickly can we bring ourselves to a state of yellow lights when we are either in the greenlight or redlight mode.

What do you think?