They strapped him to his wheel chair.  Then, they strapped him to the bungee cord.

What?  A guy in a wheel chair bungee jumping – you’ve got to be kidding me?!

This was no ruse, no joke.  This was actually Canada’s Man in Motion Rick Hansen about to be pushed off the platform in his wheelchair to go bungee jumping.  I watched it myself on the Rick Mercer show.

This was a little different challenge than Rick’s Man in Motion tour when he wheeled his wheelchair around the world through 34 countries, and traveled over 40,000 km to raise awareness for the potential of people with disabilities, to create accessible and inclusive communities, and to find a cure for paralysis.  He had overcome innumerable obstacles over the years, and here he was once again over coming an obstacle.

The obstacle was fear.

Rick Mercer, cowering at the thought of jumping off the bridge, watched his wheelchair-bound friend begin the countdown to jump.  3-2-1, then off the platform he rolled in his wheelchair plummeting to the earth, then recoiling back up again, then plummeting again.  The process continued again and again until he came to a stop.

Rick Mercer yelled down, “How are you?”

Rick Hansen yelled back, “I can’t feel my legs!”

Hilarious – he had lost his fear, but not his sense of humour.

Bungee jumping, as you may well be aware, is the adrenaline fueled practice of diving off a high fixed object with a bungee (elastic) cord attached to your ankles.  As gravity speedily hurtles the jumper to the earth below, the bungee extends to its full length causing the jumper to come to a graceful momentary end to his fall, only to have the bungee cord recoil to rocket the person skyward.  This high speed up and down action continues until the jumper finally becomes stationary hanging from the end of the bungee cord – having just experienced the ultimate thrill ride.

Basically the jumper drops into a situation at high speed screaming wildly, only to recoil back out of the situation at equally high speed.

Does that sound like a leader you know?

Bungee Bosses do just that: they jump into situations – typically unannounced – spouting off a lot of confusing verbiage/instructions, and then before you know it they are gone, leaving their faithful staff wondering what just happened.

Bungee Bosses create a lot more messes than they clean up.  They create more confusion than clarification; more tension than relaxation; more pain than pleasure; more discouragement than encouragement; and more anger than agreeability.  Bungee Bosses also tend to be oblivious to the impact they have on their people.

Bungee Bosses lack empathy.  Their leadership tends to be selfish: they are going to do what they want to do, say what they want to say, and everyone else is simply going to have to deal with it.  They do not empower their people, they impose their power upon their people.

Bungee Bosses tend to assign responsibility to people without authority.  They reserve the right to tell anyone in the organization what to do and will often override the decisions their people have made.  This creates an organization that is cynical, passionless and one that lacks initiative.

“Why should I try anything new, whenever I do the boss just overrides me and tells everyone what to do.”

Bungee Bosses are their own worst enemy, they prohibit the potential of their people.  Bungee Bosses also cost the organization a lot of money.  A direction will be set, but the Bungee Boss will swoop in and unilaterally change the direction sending people off on a wild goose chase that negates the work they have already done and causes them to spend their time on frivolous endeavors.

Bungee Bosses need to learn how to trust people, and then entrust responsibility and authority to people.  They also need to learn empathy to understand their impact on others.  Bungee Bosses need to look beyond their own needs to the needs of those they lead.  They need to understand that good leadership is spending yourself for the benefit of others, not spending others for your own benefit.

Yes indeed, Bungee Bosses are a bummer.