Click for a funny Louis CK video

He was definitely afraid.  There was no denying it.

He seemed to have lost it and was loudly declaring how this was not what he wanted.  It was all going to go bad very quickly and he wanted out.  I couldn’t help but overhear everything he was saying.  The whole front of the airplane knew of his plight.  We couldn’t see him, but he was coming through loud and clear.

And we hadn’t even taken off yet.  This was going to be a long flight…

Thankfully there was someone trying to calm him down; doing their best to console him and help him understand everything was going to be alright.  There was no need for him to be afraid.  This was not the first time he had flown, but somehow he had lost his nerve this time.

Carefully, lovingly, graciously his mother was able to calm him down.  She was able to talk him off the ledge and help him understand this was not something to be feared, but to be celebrated.  Thankfully her young son responded to her soothing words, calmed down and settled in for what he now hoped was a grand adventure.

He began to chatter excitedly about how the plane was driving out to the runway.  As the plane accelerated down the runway he grew in excitement and anticipation of that special moment: you know, that miraculous moment when thousands of pounds of steel overcomes the limitations of gravity and begins to fly.

His loud, childlike declaration broke through the mundane monotony of yet another flight at the precise moment we all felt the force of the plane pulling up into the wild blue yonder…

“Wowee – we’re flying!!!!!”, he shouted at the top of his lungs!

His adrenalized exclamation caused all those within ear-shot to chuckle, and it awoke something in me.  Yes, you are right, wowee – we are flying!  This is indeed awesome!

Is it not incredible that a mass of metal weighing over 70,000 pounds, more than 100 feet long with a wing span of 112 feet can hurl through the sky at over 900 kilometers per hour with 150 passengers aboard?!  You bet it is!

Comedian Louie CK did a funny bit about flying and technology on the Conan O’Brien show: “Everything is amazing, but nobody is happy.”  In essence, he is pointing out the fact that our culture has lost its sense of awe.  We have become spoiled, entitled and self-centered people who take most things for granted because we have lost our sense of wow and wonder.  We do not live in a state of awe and gratitude and are, therefore, very unhappy.

In fact, most of the everyday conveniences we take for granted are awesome: electricity, indoor plumbing, smart phones, automobiles, computers, scanners, printers, skype, face time – it’s the stuff of Star Trek and it’s all awesome.  But somehow we seem to have lost our sense of awe.  We have lost the wow and wonder in everyday life.

You know what the opposite of awe is?  Apathy.  If we don’t live and lead with a sense of awe and gratitude then we are living with a degree of apathy, and apathy is the antithesis of initiative, creatively and excellence.  There is nothing beneficial in apathy.

We can choose, however, to live and lead in a continual state of awe and gratitude.  Sadly though, all over the world people are asleep, but for the few who are awake they live a constant state of awe – they live in wow and wonder!

I think part of being really alive is having a child-like wonder at a deep level: “Wowee – we’re flying!”  Wonder always involves curiosity and a passionate sense of discovery.

As leaders we need to set an example of wow and wonder, and then gratitude.  Wow – awesome work on the strategic plan presentation!  Thank you.  Wow – what an incredible dealer meeting you organized!  Thank you.  Wow – fabulous new designs!  Thank you.  Wow – our new IT system is working flawlessly!  Thank you.

We must cultivate a culture of awe and gratitude in order to create a passionate, progressive, creative and engaged workforce.

We’ve got to get our wow and wonder back.