You won’t often hear a teacher on leadership tell you that you need to drift. Instead, you’ll often hear the warnings of drifting.
Drifting may lead you into the middle of the sea, like what happened to Michael Hyatt and his wife Gail. Or drifting may prevent you from going down the road to success like a winter snow drift can do in Michigan.
Those drifts are dangerous. They prevent you from moving forward. They make you stuck.
But there’s another drift. And it’s important you learn how to use this drift properly.
Image by WillVision
Have you had a chance to watch The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift? Tokyo Drift is all about this type of drift.
Driftworks describes car drifting as a driving style in which the driver uses throttle, brakes, clutch, gear shifting and steering input to keep the car in a condition of oversteer while maneuvering from turn to turn. Drifters emphasize car control by coordinating the amount of counter steer (or opposite lock) with the simultaneous modulation of the throttle and brakes to shift the weight balance of the car back and forth through the turns. Furthermore, they strive to achieve this while adhering to the standard racing lines and maintaining extreme slip angles.
It’s an impressive maneuver to see pulled off.
The car comes screaming into a car, the driver shifts and slams on the brakes (sometimes throwing down the E-Brake), swinging the car around the corner in a cloud of smoking tires and stunning visuals.
Drifting is easy to do. But mastering it is hard.
The same can be said for drifting in leadership. It’s easy to drift into the unknown but it’s hard to master having the drift bring you to your desired outcome.
Be A Master Of The Leadership Drift
If you want to become a master of the leadership drift, you’re going to have to practice a few different techniques. They may not seem related at first. But, working together, they’ll form a great drift you can be proud of.
To begin your leadership drift, put the metal to the floor. Accelerate towards your goal quickly: At some point you’ll have a project you’re screaming towards. You’ll put a ton of resources and energy into completing the task. That’s good. Real good, especially for drifting.
The faster you’re going, the better. Speed is good as you’re entering into a drift.
Next, kick it down a notch: The next step in drifting is to shift into a lower gear. The lower gear provides more torque and greater energy to kick you around the curve.
In leadership, this means take a step back. You may even want to take a rest. Just kick it down a notch and give it a minute.
Finally, punch the gas again: The last step is to turn the wheel and hit the gas as hard as you can. This will provide maximum power to your wheels and swing the back end of your car around the track.
As a leader, you can come out strong after taking the brief rest you deserve. When you come out of the rest period, hit it with all you’ve got.
You’ll begin to turn and slide in the direction you desire. It’s a great feeling and you’ll look good doing it.
You can use the power of the drift to lead well. Don’t let others tell you otherwise.
By powering up, changing gears, and then powering through again, you’ll have a technique that will benefit your leadership. And maybe even make you look cool.
Question: Have you found a drift that works for you in your leadership? If so, what is it? If not, do you think drifting works in leadership? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
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