“More power.  More power.  Try it in reverse now.  Rock it back and forth.  Everyone move to the bow.”

Yup, we were stuck.  Grounded – or ‘run aground’ in nautical terms.

We were leaving a small crescent-shaped caye and following the charts in what was supposed to be a narrow channel deep enough for us to pass through with no issues.  However, for whatever reason, we were now stuck.  We were seven men on a 46’ Catamaran sailboat in search of adventure in the tropical waters of the Belizean Archipelago.

In time we were able to wiggle ourselves out of this particular scenario, only to charge right into another area of the reef where we went through the whole experience one more time.  Running aground was really not too serious; it simply added another interesting component to our adventurous journey.

What made this little incident more entertaining was who was at the helm when we ran aground.  Ken.  Ken is a very competent yachtsman.  He was not our captain – he was one of the crew like us.  Our captain believed in giving each of us on the trip the opportunity to engage in every aspect of sailing a vessel of this type and size.  So, we each took turns at the helm throughout our voyage.

However, Ken was given extra responsibilities due to his unique capabilities.  Ken had owned a large motor yacht at one point, so he was quite familiar with what was involved in piloting a boat of this size.  Ken was also a pilot who regularly flew his plane all over the country, so Ken was also a good navigator and very competent at reading charts and plotting courses.  Needless to say, Ken was the most competent and confident of the crew.

So, Ken – the ‘class’ of the crew – is the man who runs us aground.  I said to Ken that I saw this in some way as poetic justice.  I joked with him that I felt emasculated in his presence because he was so competent and confident – I felt like “a little girlie sailor” next to him.  The fact that Ken ran us aground gave the rest of us permission to make mistakes.  It was a great gift.  The moment called for a special ceremony, so with impromptu formality and typical male jocularity I dubbed Ken “Grounder”.  And he liked it.  He seemed to revel in his new found notoriety.  I think Ken liked his new nickname because he understood the truth behind this old adage:

“If you’ve never run aground, then you haven’t been anywhere.”

In other words, if you are going to dare anything; if you are going to go for it; if you are going to courageously step out of your comfort zone – you are going to make some mistakes.  It’s part of the journey. You are going to run aground sometime.

Leadership involves risk.  You will never make the right decision all the time and everything will not always work out well.  That doesn’t mean that you should just stay in the safety of the harbor.  Setting sail into new ventures involves risk.  You can prepare well, but you can never control all the parameters of the venture.  Risk is a reality of life and leadership.  Where there is risk, there is need for courage.

You cannot discover new oceans without the courage to lose sight of the shoreline.

So do your research, do your homework, prepare, plan and then set sail into the adventure of your new venture – whatever that may be.  A new hire, a new client, a new market, a new division, a new location, etc. – it all involves risk of some kind.  No matter how much planning and preparation you make, you may still run aground sometimes.

Don’t let ‘running aground’ take you out.  Put it behind you.  Learn from your mistakes and set sail again, this time more intelligently. We all run aground from time to time – it’s part of life’s voyage.  Just remember…

“If you’ve never run aground then you have never been anywhere.”