Splinters

At the age of fourteen, I remodeled houses to gain experience and earn an

income. My mother and father were recently divorced and I, who was dubbed the “man

of the house,” had a serious knowledge deficit and a steep learning curve. I had to grow

up fast. This is when I learned that I could view life as one full of obstacles or one full of

opportunities. I chose the latter and haven’t looked back.

My opportunity to remodel houses gave me some positive and painful

experiences. One such experience involved replacing a degraded deck. In the process

of demolishing the old weather treated lumber, I somehow caught a splinter deep

between the index and middle fingers on my left hand. The scar still remains, but that is

because I didn’t deal with the splinter immediately and decisively.

I decided it was easier to deal with the splinter later, because it broke off under

the skin and I didn’t have the time, or so I thought, to deal with it at the time. Sadly, my

hand started swelling and became quite painful. I found myself protecting the injured

site more than focusing on the job. I also found it difficult to use my left hand to hold

tools or carry things. Bottom line, this splinter affected me and my duty performance.

The negative effects of leaving the splinter be would ultimately cause me to lose my

hand. So, I finally chose to dig it out. What a painful experience, but well worth it. My

hand healed and my duty performance excelled.

You may wonder why I am sharing this story. The answer is simple, during their

performance of duties leaders catch splinters every day, from all kinds of sources, which

can affect them mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically. These splinters can

cause the demise of extraordinary, efficient, and effective leadership. After interviewing

countless leaders, I discovered there are several symptoms such as retaliation,

moodiness, bity responses, isolationism, favoritism, apathetic behavior to name a few,

that present as problems daily.

Authentic leaders watch for these symptoms in themselves and in others with

whom they work or lead, because these leaders are well aware of the negative impact

“splinters” can create. Instead of waiting to address splinters, like I had done, these wise

leaders immediately and decisively work to remove them before they splinter their

leadership success. Let me leave you with this thought, “Splinters and slivers hurt a

leader’s endeavors.”