I was having breakfast with Ron Spindler, CEO and President of Spindler Engineering, last week and he related the following story about knowing your limitations as well as your strengths. Besides growing and running one of the most successful engineering firms in Los Angeles, Mr. Spindler is also a collector of a variety of specialty cars. As a member of the Lamborghini club, he and his wife Diane were invited to drive their car to an event in Orange County and then, as a group, were driving back to Los Angeles to lunch at the Hotel Bel Air.
As the group of Lamborghini’s came to a particularly tempting onramp on the freeway, one of the drivers couldn’t resist testing out his newly modified car. When he gunned the engine to test her out, I’m certain that doing a donut and smashing three sides of his new car against the guard rail wasn’t the kind of fun he had in mind! The good news is, other than a bruised ego and wallet, no one was harmed.
As Ron was relating the story he looked at me and said, “You know, it’s really important to understand the limitations of your equipment and that includes your brain. People need to learn what they can and cannot do.”
As a leadership consultant, I find far less people who are in over their heads as I do really talented people who have let the unimportant take over their world and undermine what they really need to be paying attention to. Where do you fall in this arena? Are you overconfident and making mistakes, or are you getting drowned by the everyday white noise of unimportant busywork?
