THE HIDDEN COST OF BEING A COWBOY
This last week I was dragged into a time consuming situation of my own causing. Over the last year I made a particular batch of decisions that at the time I felt were critical for us in achieving our mission. The cost was low, and the returns high. Sounds great, right? The issue is that this batch of decisions went against what I had promised some key stakeholders. Not so great.
SHOOTING FROM THE HIP
I’ve been called a cowboy over the years by some. I’ve always taken it as a compliment. My dad raised me to be a big fan of westerns. (Hint: if you want to insult me, call me an Avenger or some other Marvel character). I know full well that they are actually criticizing my inability to function within boundaries. It looks great in the movies, and the hero always ends up victorious. But it doesn’t work that way in real life, and deep-down I’m aware of that. We’ve all seen the cowboy business leaders that always seem to end up in trouble. The Elons and the Donalds who for all their brilliance, can’t keep their mouth shut long enough to do some good. (Well, half the cars I see now are Teslas, so that’s not totally true - I’m just trying to be generous with my point).
BUT YOU SAID THE COSTS WERE LOW…
Those low costs I mentioned? Turns out that’s not actually the case. I’ve now spent much of the last week researching, reporting, supporting, dialoging, and most importantly, focusing on this. This is the hidden cost of being a cowboy. While those initial costs were small, I wasn’t considering the high cost to me today. This is all my own doing. I may argue that it was for the greater good, but it doesn’t change the point: Accountability is a real thing.
A couple of weeks ago I watched some real-life cowboys ride bulls. I noticed something unexpected: These guys wear helmets now. What kind of a cowboy wears a helmet? The kind that wants to live a long life, that’s the kind. They look and act like a cowboy most of the time, but they’ve learned to avoid some risk. Perhaps that’s a model I can live with. After all, being a cowboy is what got me to this point. The good side of that personality shouldn’t be changed. But I could stand to wear a helmet every once in a while to avoid the hidden costs.
I’M ALREADY DOING IT ELSEWHERE
I know what to do. I’m already doing it when I stop for gas. I’ll pass five stations on the left until I come to one on the right. My time is valuable enough to me that I don’t want to lose a measurable amount of my day waiting on 2-3 left-turn signals. It’s the hidden cost, and it’s embedded without me thinking about it.
So perhaps I’ll do better at considering these other hidden costs in the future. I might just become a better decision maker before I’m so old that my kids are making my decisions for me.
Cheers!
