Episode 26 – Finding Balconies, Building Bridges
This episode features an interview with former Caterpillar Vice President and Corporate Officer, Tom Bluth. Tom shares some great examples from his time in China, France, and the U.S. where key lessons in leadership were learned. Discussions will cover topics such as the importance of core values; leadership expectations; keeping your finger on the pulse; and perspective. He also shares a powerful poem that his father left him on leadership. (see speaker notes)
Whiteboard Notes:
Reflection Questions:
- Is your organization’s culture and its’ people a competitive advantage? How do you know? If it is, then how are you leveraging it? If it is not, what corrective actions are being taken?
- Where have you seen in your organization a leader’s tone and behaviors fundamentally change a situation in a positive way? Make a situation worse?
- What different perspectives and viewpoints has your internal network provided you?
- How often do you take time to find a balcony, away from so many daily demands, and look at things from a different angle and perspective?
- Who are the true bridge builders in your organization? How can you further leverage their special gift?
Here’s the poem Tom referred to in this podcast:
THE BRIDGEBUILDER by Will Allen Dromgoole
An old man going a lone highway
Came at the evening cold and gray
To a chasm vast and deep and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide
The old man crossed in the twilight dim,
The sullen stream had no fears for him;
But he turned when safe on the other side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.
“Old Man,” said a fellow pilgrim near,
“You are wasting your strength building here.
Your journey will end with the coming day,
You never again will pass this way.
You’ve crossed the chasm, deep and wide,
Why build you this bridge at eventide?”
The builder lifted his old gray head,
“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,
“There is following after me today
A youth whose feet must pass this way,
The chasm that was naught to me
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be;
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim,
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him.”
