[Secrets Out] I didn't build an airplane.
"You keep saying WE built the airplane, but it doesn't look like you did all that much."
😏
This is an actual comment I received regarding the Vans RV-10 airplane my husband, Ed, and I built from 2012-2015.
My initial reaction to the comment?
Defensiveness.
I vividly recall my literal blood, sweat, and tears during the build.
But as I let that defensiveness go, an interesting perspective is revealed from that of the commenter.
—Why do they believe a team member is any less important in the pursuit of a purpose?
🤔
Ed was the visionary of our build.
He was passionate about the idea, led the technical aspects, and the overall planning.
Taught himself and me how to rivet, dimple, and deburr.
And was the brains behind capturing the timelapse of the entire build process.
And my role?
I was the engaged and supportive doer.
Fit in all the tight spaces for fabrication.
Sounding board when things got tough.
Ensured all the rest of our lives kept moving.
And when our son, EJ, was born in 2014, I focused on taking care of him.
Because I wasn't just doing my tasks.
I was working toward our vision of experiencing life and travel as a family.
That's what the commenter missed...
Great leaders know every team member is critically important to the mission.
And it's the leader's job to paint the vivid vision of a bright future.
Ed helped me, an afraid of heights, air-sick, claustrophobic, see and believe in a beautiful future of our family experiencing our world.
And most importantly, he helped me see my place in it.
Tomorrow in my newsletter, we're learning from the world's greatest purpose-driven leaders who inspired their teams to move mountains — and how you can learn from them to do the same.
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