It’s easy being average

Last month Kim and I traveled to Florida to take in one of the three remaining shuttle launches. The trip almost got extended by a day when we got to the airport minutes before our return flight was set to depart. We’ll skip the part where I thought our flight left 30 minutes later than it actually did to the part of the story worth sharing. We checked in online but failed to print our boarding passes. The kiosk at the airport could not find our reservation, so we went to the service counter (still oblivious to our real departure time). As we approached the next open agent, we hear the announcement. You know…the announcement you never want to hear from outside security, “this will serve as our final boarding call for JetBlue flight 259 to Long Beach. All passengers should be at the boarding gate immediately.”

At this point it would have been extremely easy, and quite honestly expected, for the agent to apologize and let us know we were going to miss our flight. However, that didn’t happen. In super-star fashion, she notified the gate of our late arrival and then proceeded to whisk us off to security. We quickly became “those people” as we bypassed the line and chased our agent through the terminal and to our gate.

As I sit here at 32,000 feet typing, I cannot help to think how easy it would have been for her to have just been average and not done anything for us. I’m pretty sure her job description doesn’t say, “sprint through security and down the hall so that passengers who screw up their departure time can make their flight.” I’m not saying other agents wouldn’t make the effort, but let’s be real, she stepped it up when we needed help the most. This is what it takes to be great.

The same is true of our space program. When JFK made his famed speech at Rice University he didn’t say, “let’s get to space.” He said, “let’s get to the moon” and took the bold step of telling us to move swiftly in doing it. That’s the beauty of being great – your legacy can become enduring.

If we want to be outstanding leaders, we must realize that being average won’t cut it. We must challenge ourselves. When setting out on our mission, whether it be in customer service, leading a group, parenting a child, etc., we must focus on what being extraordinary can produce. Do you have an example where you avoided being average and in turn produced a great result?