To Be A Follower

One of the hardest things a leader – be it at home as a parent or at work- is to be a follower. 

As parents we spend so much of the first stages of our children’s lives doing things for them, teaching, protecting, clearing paths. 

At some point, we need to start letting them lead and demonstrate what it looks like to follow. 

This means staying quiet when their method isn’t our own or the pace slows down. 

I cherish my time skiing with Vivi and for the first time all winter we finally had enough snow to ski. Despite the wind and falling snow, we put in a few laps around the field, including making tracks in the fresh powder. 

I had been going first, setting the pace which is what I like to do. But halfway through I had Vivi take the lead. Which meant going slower (not easy for me to do), and watch her use a technique that I didn’t really understand but it was working for her. 

So I kept my mouth shut. 

And I followed. 

Eventually I asked her what she found helpful about her technique and we compared it to mine. Turned out they had similar results- something I wouldn’t have known if I had approached it correction instead of curiosity. 

If you have done your job as a leader, you will get the opportunity to be a follower. 

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About Becky

Becky Schmooke (pronounced “Smoke”) is a Mindful Leadership Consultant and Speaker, focused on providing action based mindfulness and leadership training to organizations and businesses who are ready to do things differently.

Becky’s Mindful Kitchen, is located outside of Iowa City, and provides truly unique team building and leadership retreats, strategic planning workshops, private parties and classes and weekly summer camps for kids. The commercial teaching kitchen, treehouse, archery range, bush craft skills, first aid training, wood fired pizza oven, chickens, baby goats and timber adventure playground provides endless opportunities for hands on activities.

As a mom to three girls, 60 chickens, 4 goats, 2 dogs and a fire fighter’s wife- life is never boring and provides Becky with endless stories which she uses to illustrate her approach to mindfulness in daily posts on social media.

In all that she does, Becky has one goal, to build confidence in others to take action to live their best life, not just pass time.