What a Night at the Atlanta Airport Taught Me About Leadership

So, this video is from the Atlanta airport where last night there was a huge ground stop and there's hundreds of people stranded here in the Atlanta airport. Um, by the time this posts, it'll be a week or two later, but I'm not saying this to share that I got to spend the night here and stand in crazy lines and all that, but to tell you about some lessons and thoughts from it. Um, I had one of the most incredible experiences standing in line at the help desk for six hours last night after having sat on a plane for six hours and being grounded. I got to meet some incredible people in line. And the most amazing piece was that people were not up in arms. People stayed calm and patient. They knew that they couldn't control the outcome. They had to let it go. that staying angry or frustrated and you know tense wasn't going to do anyone any good. So people just opened up, started talking to each other and just letting the time pass by the best they could. People helped each other out so people could go to the bathroom and other things and it was just an amazing experience to watch. And it teaches, you know, me some lessons in leadership um that sometimes it's just important to be patient. Um you can only do what you can do to control your outcomes. And I'm not saying that you don't do that. You should, right? If something's in your control, um, be proactive and do the best you can. And we were all getting creative. We were booking random flights, anything we could think of to do, making plans, like helping each other think through different strategies to get where we needed to go, looking up different flights, you know? I mean, everybody was helping each other, right? So, be proactive. Do what you can. Help each other figure it out. and also know that the outcome's not fully in your hands. Um, and don't get hung up on it. So, um, some really great lessons from being stuck in an airport and right now being up probably, uh, over 30 hours straight on some coffee. Um, so if I seem a little bit different than normal, that would be why. But anyways, just wanted to share some fun lessons from the airport and fun travel experience. Um, right now I'm on Stanba. I don't even know if I'm going to get to go on my vacation. Time will be told by the time this video posts. Um, that story will be uh at its next place. But whether or not I get to go on vacation, it's a matter of whether or not it's meant to be. If I'm meant to be there, I'll be there. And frankly, if I don't get to go, then it wasn't meant to be. And there's other more important things for me to be doing. And allowing myself to know that has allowed me to use this time more wisely, focus on what's important and uh just be present in the moment with the things that are happening here. Um so despite the fact that I've done all the things I just shared, I'm in a really good mood right now in a good place. Um whatever is meant to be is going to be and uh it's going to be a great week ahead no matter what.