perception.

Yesterday on my not-so-smooth flight from Denver to Akron I noticed quite an amazing display of extrinsic control that really got me thinking. A brief run-down: about an hour into our trip we started to hit some pretty significant turbulance. Understandably, the captain came on, urged everyone to be seated with seatbelts fastened, and then informed us that the attendants would be unavailable as they would also need to be seated. The turbulance picked up even more and the plane was literally bouncing around, spilling drinks and so on. Since the flight was at half capacity, the audio level was much lower than usual and someone in the back could easily be heard in the front. I watched as people clinged to their seats and tried to stay calm. I've been on quite a few bumpy rides so this wasn't too alarming for me, though I'll admit not extremely comfortable being exhausted and wanting to sleep.

The flight attendents took their seats in the back of plane and one threw his arms in the air and began to yell, "Folks this is a free rollercoaster ride, we don't even charge extra for this! Make sure your arms are up!" Everyone began laughing and, surprisingly, many joined in and extended their arms above their heads as if heading down a steep hill on a rollercoaster. The plane got loud and people were laughing and cheering as we hit more bumps.

A single flight attendent took what could have been an extremely stressful situation for a newby patron and in ten seconds, with nothing more than words and simple situational association, turned it into a laughing matter.

I continued to sit and watch and ferociously dig at what simple perception can do to a situation, a relationship, a company etc. The key is in positioning yourself correctly as the influencer; as a flight attendent, the man was a in a trustworthy and experienced position and therefore people followed him. As a manager, if you can strategically and artistically place yourself as a highly-respected and trustworthy team member, imagine what you can do for your direct reports, who in turn can have an exponential effect on front line staff.

”Leaders who win the respect of others are the ones who deliver more than they promise, not the ones who promise more than they can deliver.” --Mark A. Clement


bk