Last week I promised that I would apply lobsters and rubber bands to leadership, so I hope this won’t disappoint!
The other day I was at a seafood restaurant, and in the lobby there was a tank of lobsters swimming around. Actually, there were three tanks with small lobsters in one, medium in the next, and monster-scary-enough-to-eat-Cleveland in the third. I stood there and watched as the lively group of creatures crawled over each other, all seeming to be looking for the escape route. I felt bad for them. Poor lobsters! Why did I feel bad? Well, it’s not what you might think. I wasn’t feeling sorry for the fact that in a relatively short amount of time they would be placed in a pot and become someone’s lunch. (I actually think they are delicious.) I didn’t feel bad because they were cooped up with a bunch of other, kind of creepy-looking sea crustaceans. (I think it was nice for them to be surrounded by their friends at the end of their lobster life.) The real reason I felt badly for them was the rubber band that was placed on their claw to keep it shut.
My guess is that a rubber band is placed on the claw to keep the lobster from fighting with the other lobsters (perhaps they aren’t as good of friends as I thought) and to keep them from fighting back when the chef starts to place them in the pot. The rubber band serves a great purpose, and I’m sure that the person who started this practice was glad to have found a way to stay out of the grips of the unhappy lobster.
Here’s my point. Lobsters have a claw so that they can eat, defend themselves, and be all that a lobster dreams they can be. (Yes, I’m certain lobsters are big dreamers.) The claw helps them live up to the potential that was created within them. Without the claw, the very thing that gives them strength is taken away and they just becomes someone’s lunch.
Leaders are like the lobster. Strong, decisive, fearless and able to defend what is important to them. However, if someone, something, or even we ourselves place a rubber band on what makes us strong, we go from being free to swim in the seven seas to a pot of hot water. So, I ask, do you have a rubber band on your claw? Has someone or some circumstance taken away your strength? Worse, have you personally placed a rubber band on yourself? Do you see the things you must do, but fear, insecurity, or indecisiveness is keeping your claw clamped together and you can’t function as you were created to? Has a past failure become your rubber band? Has a negative friend or family member placed a band on your claw? What is it that is holding you down? What is preventing you from being king of the sea?
I don’t think I’ll ever look at a tank of lobsters in the same way again. As a leader, I want to always do what I do without the limits that a rubber band would place on my ability to lead. Organizations sometimes place rubber bands on their claws, as do families and individuals. Don’t! Take off whatever is limiting you from being your best. Be the best lobster you can be!
Lead well.