I was in a meeting recently and used the analogy of a wake for the concept of a leadership transition. I was using the word as a way to articulate the sense I had for much of my life in relation to my father. With his passing now almost a year ago, there are moments when I’m still struck by the significance of his passing and the reverberations it continues to have on me as I now move through my passage of life without him.
My company name, Gimbal Systems, is all about finding balance and maintaining direction in an unstable environment. The common application for gimbal systems is on boats, so I’m constantly thinking about that metaphor and how it applies to life, business and leadership. The fact that the visual of a boat’s wake (defined as the track of waves left by a ship or other object moving through the water) came to me as I was describing my relationship to my father and my own leadership journey was very fitting.
The point I was trying to make with the analogy was that for a long time I followed in the wake of my father. He was a dynamic man with a passion for life and so as his namesake son it was easy to slip into the comfort of following his wake. The water was smoother back there and at times it was easier to follow than lead. The sweat spot in the wake of another boat is much like race cars or bikes that use the slipstream of the leading vehicle by drafting behind them. Yet in sailing, this concept back fires and creates what racers call “dirty air” which they actively seek to avoid in order to find “clean air.”
The challenge becomes getting out of the wake. You have to exert more energy and make your way through the rough waves the wake creates. Water-skiers, wake boarders and tubers love that transition zone; they seek it out to get big air. Most people are not thrill seekers or metaphorical wave jumpers, unless they are forced to be, as was the case for me with the passing of my father.
My time for following his wake is now over and the point I was making in the meeting is that it is not always easy to get out of another’s person path. The discussion I was a part of was about transitioning to leadership and how it requires a commitment and shift to get out of the comfort found in following another’s wake. The transition is bumpy and not always comfortable. It requires a commitment and fortitude to get out from behind in order to set your own path and wake.
All of this discussion focused on the secondary noun definition of the word wake. In looking more closely at the word, there are two other fascinating definitions for wake.
1) The primary noun definition of wake is a watch or vigil held over the body of a dead person during the night before burial. Admittedly this meaning was not the first thing that came to my mind, yet I found it fascinating that it was there especially considering I was using the word in relationship to my passed father. Yet as it relates to the concept of leadership and the transition toward it, my belief is that the individual has to let go of their old identity and step into a new one, which needs to be a conscious act, much like a ceremonial wake.
2) The primary verb definition of wake is to rouse or become roused from sleep and inactivity in order to gain consciousness and awareness. To me this is what life today is all about and the act of leadership (personal or professional) requires driving consciousness in the face of ever increasing challenges where the concept of “ignorance is bliss” is much more comfortable and preferred to awareness and authenticity.
So having looked more closely at the word WAKE, it is now my leadership trifecta for the following reason. It requires individuals to….
1) Get out from behind another’s wake even though it is hard
2) Let go of and bury your belief that says it is more comfortable to follow
3) WAKE up and speak your truth – It will set you free and others will follow your courageousness
My belief is that if you do these three things consistently, you too can become the leader that you already are and surf the wake rather than languish in it.