Nottingham Handicap Steeple Chase at Southwell Racecourse.
“It’s not just about speed. It’s about patience.”
That is what Paddy Payne tells his daughter, Michelle, about how to compete in horse racing. In 2015, Michelle Payne became the first woman jockey to win the Melbourne Cup, Australia’s biggest horse race. Her story is told in Ride Like a Girl (Netflix), and so what Mr. Payne says is likely dramatized its intention resonates with someone like Michelle who had to overcome adversity. First is her gender – women jockeys are not welcome with open arms – and a series of injuries – the hazards of the trade.
“You’re all bunched in, you can’t breathe, you think it’s all done, then the horses all start fatiguing at the different times,” explains Paddy to his daughter. “And suddenly a gap opens. And that’s God talking to you. And you’d better listen to God, because he will close that gap quicker than you can say your mother’s name.”
Good advice for a jockey, yes, but it may have resonance win the world we find ourselves.
Right now, our pandemic and economic crisis have us bunched in tight. And with social injustice compounding our situation, we all feel challenged. We need to break out. We need to do something.
But we are tired and may feel as if we cannot go another step. Then, as in horse racing, something occurs – an opportunity arises – and suddenly, we don't feel our fatigue. We sense only the possibility of making something, something that will improve your job, your career. And so you grab it quick as you can because such opportunities, particularly in times of pandemics may not come twice.
Patience prepares us
And we can move forward because we have been patient. We have prepared ourselves for this moment. Patience prepares the mind for the opportunity. If the "gap" had occurred earlier in our lives, we might not have noticed, and we likely would not have been ready.
There’s another line in the film that resonates. “A horse gallops with his lungs, he perseveres with his heart, and he wins with his character," says Payne senior. While he refers to equines, who compete on four legs, the same analogy may apply to those of us who get about on two legs.
Our lungs provide our capacity to learn, and we breathe in as much as we can. Our hearts point us in the right direction and gives us the gumption to get up and go. And finally, it is our character that will differentiate us from others. Those who lead with character are those who will lead others to victory.
You can make the argument that patience is what underscores these attributes. Having patience gives us the space to learn, enables the heart to direct, and our character to rise to the fore.
Patience for leaders is never natural because, by nature, leadership includes the bias for action. Leaders are those who like to be in the fray; by nature, they do not hang back. They plunge in. And therein the need for patience. If you act too quickly, without enough forethought, things can go awry pretty quickly. Hanging back, considering your options and re-testing your assumptions, gives you the ability to think through your options so that when you do act, you do so more prepared. Furthermore, waiting provides the leader with the opportunity to prepare his team to seize the chance when it arises.
Speed to the chase, but wait for the opportunity.
