26 Sep 2019 Leadership Qualities – Confidence or Stupidity?
Leadership Qualities – Confidence or Stupidity?
In this series of short articles, I will share real-life cases from my experience as an Executive Coach and how I worked with my clients to build their leadership skills and behaviors.
In this episode, I share a story about me, and I invite you to ponder the question above. And if you care to, please let me know your thoughts.
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Please let me know if I have your permission to contact you to explore whether you and your team will benefit from our Executive Coaching. (at Uri@thewilltochange.com)
The Case Story
I was sitting in the Principal’s office when he finally popped the questions: “Can you fix televisions?”
I was 22 years of age, a self-funding student of Mechanical Engineering, at the prestigious Technical University in town. For the past few months, I have been desperately looking for a job, without which my studies would have come to a premature end, as my parents could not pay for my tuition.
One day, I saw a small advertisement in the evening paper saying: “We are looking for an Electronics Instructor for our Adult Technical Vocational School.” Prior to going to university, I was an instructor at the Airforce Technical Academy, teaching missile technology. Based on this experience, I decided that this ad might be the opportunity I was looking for.
Sitting in front of the Principal, it became clear that they were looking for a Television Instructor and not just an electronics generalist. “Why didn’t they say so in the ad?” I asked myself. “I wouldn’t have bothered to come.” But on the other hand, I realized that this was my only job opportunity after months of searching.
I knew that I only had 2 or 3 seconds to think about my response. If I said “NO”, I would have been “on the street again” desperately looking through newspaper ads. If I said “YES”, I stood a risk of being discovered as a fraud, since until that day, I have never seen the inside of a television set.
How I Addressed The Challenge
After 2 seconds of trying not to show my internal turmoil, I gathered my inner confidence, looked at the Principal straight in the eyes, and said……. “YESSir. I’ll be able to teach television at your school.”
“OK.” He said. “Be here at 6:00 PM on Wednesday night in two weeks. You’ll be joining our students at their practical television lab, during which our Chief Instructor will test your knowledge.
As soon as I was out of his office, I ran downstairs to the nearest book store and I bought a set of six books entitled: “How TVs work and how to fix them.”
On Friday night that week, I arrived as usual at my girlfriend’s home. Her parents were out for the evening. The TV was on and she was in the kitchen, preparing some snacks for us. I took one look at the TV, and said to myself: “The Lord is looking out for me tonight.” As we set down to watch TV, I said: “Your TV picture is very “snowy”. If you want, I can take it to my home, fix it, and return it as good as new.” “That would be wonderful?” She said. “Let me ask my parents.”
The next day, I loaded the heavy TV set into my VW Beatle and carried it up to three flights of stair to my parents’ apartment. With great excitement, I opened the back cover of the TV. It was the first time I ever saw the inside of a Television. For the next 10 days, I skipped classes and spent 15 hours a day in front of my girlfriend’s TV with my books and with two old electronics instruments I could afford to buy from the used electronics store downtown.
On the designated Wednesday at 5:30 PM I showed up at the school and was directed to the Television Lab. For the next 3 hours, I walked from one student to the next, trying my best to answer their questions and help them to fix the TVs in front of them. The Chief Instructor was never far behind me, sometimes breathing down my neck, listening to my technical answers and watching how I conducted myself with the students.
I went home that night with a heavy feeling, fearing that I could not hide the fact that, although I knew a lot about electronics in general, I knew very little about how TVs work and how to fix them.
How it Turned Out
Two weeks later, to my great surprise, I received a letter with a job offer from the school. The next day, I went to the school and delivered the signed offer to the Principal’s office in person.
A few weeks before the next semester, the Chief Instructor invited me for an orientation meeting. “Here is the material you’ll have to teach. For your first course, I’ll be sitting at the back of the class. Hopefully, you’ll learn all that you need to know in one semester.”
As the meeting ended, I said: “I want to thank you for the opportunity. You will not be disappointed. But may I ask why did you select me for this job?” “Listen.” He said. “We had three candidates. And I know full well that none of you had any clue about the inner workings of Television. But somehow you were able to navigate the students’ questions and add some value to their learning.”
Two semesters later, the Chief Instructor left the school, and soon thereafter the Principal called me to his office and said: “I want to promote you to Chief Instructor.Are you up for it?” “Absolutely, Sir,” I answered. “I am most honored.” “And by the way,” He said, “I want you to write our new TV student manuals. Our current manuals are getting old.” “Sure,” I said. “You’ll have a draft of the first chapter in three weeks. Will that be OK?” “Make it two weeks.” He said.
Confidence or Stupidity
Years later, as I reflected on this period in my life, I asked myself: “Where did I get the confidence to answer “YES” to the Principal’s question? What if it did not work out? What if I were exposed as an impostor and a fraud? Was it confidence or stupidity?”
What do you think? If you care to, please email me your thoughts at Uri@thewilltochange.com
