I was recently captivated by a keynote speaker’s unique perspective on leadership. He asked all of the leaders in the room to stretch both of their arms up and reach for the sky. That’s what leaders do; they see a vision and reach for it. However, after awhile, their arms will get tired. The question posed to us was, who will stand by them to help them keep reaching? Many are quick to criticize and tear down those in leadership positions, but do we do just as much or more to support leaders trying to move us toward something new?

Imagine walking into this room of leaders with outstretched arms, but no one notices your presence. You have a unique perspective and valuable talents of your own, but who can see them? No one reaches over to engage you. You aren’t sure what everyone is reaching for, so you aren’t sure how you can help. You offer your assistance, but you are turned away without a glance or prejudged as inadequate. Eventually, you may decide to leave or to stay and start reaching toward your own vision.

What if you enter the room and you continue to poke at a ‘reacher’ continuously until they are forced to bring their arms down to confront the distraction. After a genuine exchange, you may both realize that by combining your strengths, you can reach perhaps an even greater vision more easily together. Suddenly, a partnership begins which can lead to a team, and then to a mighty force of many working together to reach toward one amazing Technicolor dream.

Are we all standing around with our arms up? If so, how can we support one another? We’re going to get tired. Do we know when to stop reaching? Do we know when it’s time to let our arms down to help another? Have we built up our leadership muscles enough to sustain the reach long term? Do we have the proper trainers to help us? Do we know when, how and where to ask for help? Have we even seen what some are reaching for while our focus was solely on our own visions? And aren’t all of our visions connected into one big bold vision in the end?