Leadership starts within

A couple of weeks ago, I was returning from Boston and landed in Toronto at 11:00 p.m. (a couple of hours later than I was supposed to). As I rushed through from customs, down the elevator, and towards the exit, an elderly black lady in a wheel chair caught my eye. She was sitting by herself around an empty luggage carousel. I casually walked out of my way over to her and asked if she needed any assistance. She did. She had been sitting there for five hours, unattended in a very busy terminal, waiting for her daughter to land from Houston. She was patiently waiting where the last Houston Flight landed over three hours previously. When I explained to her that the probability of her daughter arriving from Houston at this hour in this terminal was slim, I suggested she call for help. She did not have a cell phone so we used mine and called her sister, who she was visiting in Toronto. No answer.

I suggested we get her out of the immigration area and to the area where people could be waiting for her and if required, I could drive her to her sister’s house in the city (the opposite direction of where I needed to go).

So here I am pushing her out the door, in her wheelchair, with a cart full of her luggage (still no offer of help!) to the waiting area wondering, how can we as Canadians leave a person sitting like this? This is no way to welcome someone to our wonderful country and definitely no way to start a holiday. Frankly, I was embarrassed by the support our airport staff provided.

Out in the general waiting area, we looked around and saw no one she recognized so we decided to push over to the information desk to see if anyone had perhaps left a message for her. On our way there her sister spotted us and came rushing over. She had also been waiting for five hours for her sister.

Milton Rush … I hope your daughter arrived and that the rest of your interaction with Canadians was much more friendly than the first five hours you spent in our airport.

So, I feel pretty good about helping Milton. It was the right thing to do. The next day I am driving down a busy street on the way home and I see a car veered off to the side of the ditch, and a man dragging a young girl (teenager) back to the car very unwillingly. He is hitting her. Since I am on the other side of the road going 80, with a car full of kids… I do not stop or call 911. A very quick decision told me not to get involved with kids in the car, but that is wrong. What type of example am I setting for my kids?

Leadership starts within. Each of us needs to step outside our comfort zone and be better leaders. I will try harder in the future.

On Monday I am missing SHRM For the first time in over 15 years. Katie, my daughter, is graduating from grade eight and I tell you graduations days are not like they were when I grew up! So do me a favor, if you see anything really exciting at www.shrm.org (not people standing in line to get a picture of a monkey) send me a note and tell me about it. I’d really appreciate it!

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