The other day my wife and I were driving to a gathering in a neighborhood we had not been to before. The homes were all unique with stone facing and a variety of styles. The landscaping at each home was meticulous.
As the driver what really caught my attention were the speed bumps. Every single street had two or three of these spaced out based on the length of the street. There was not one single street in this area which did not have multiple speed bumps. Yes there were signs to warn you and to note the exact location for each speed bump.
It turns out the speed bumps were placed there for a few reasons.
The first one, which is the most obvious, is to slow down the speed of any vehicles driving through this neighborhood. The second reason was to protect the children in the area who might be either crossing the road or playing in or near to the road. The third reason, which may not be so obvious, is to reduce the road traffic as people who know the speed bumps are there would avoid these roads unless they had to drive into the area for a specific reason or to visit someone.
Isn’t this how it is in our business and our lives? Don’t we hit speed bumps at various times? Now we are not talking about a dead end, we are talking about a speed bump.
So people might just say – “well I know there are speed bumps if I go that way so I am not going that way.”
Sometimes we take note of the warning signs and other times we are totally taken off guard. Yes, of course there are others who will not slow down at all and just plow right through. We all know what that will do to your car if you try that out on the road. Maybe speed bumps in our business, career and our lives are meant for us to slow down and think about what it is that we are doing?
What are we trying to achieve? What are we really focused on?
The road with the speed bumps may be the road less traveled. The road to success in life and in business may be a road like that as well. It seems clear to me we need to recognize the speed bumps when they are present, take note, slow down and consider what are we doing and why are we doing it?
Mitch Tublin runs a boutique consulting firm with a main focus on leadership development, strategic initiatives and executive coaching. Based in Stamford, CT. he has clients all over the world.
