A few years ago, I was very lucky to be reminded of what it’s like to be a team member instead of being a team leader. It was fun, refreshing, and insightful. Too many times as leaders, we forget what it’s like to be led instead of doing the leading.

I tried to achieve some balance in my life by taking a few days off to go fishing on Lake Erie with my son. We chartered a boat for three days—just the two of us and boat’s crew. If you’ve never been walleye fishing on a trolling boat (we hadn’t), it’s a bit different than you would expect—and a lot more work than we bargained for.

The crew consisted of the captain (Nate), the first mate (Ed), my son, and me. When we showed up at 6 a.m., it seemed like a normal charter—we sat there trying to wake up while Nate and Ed prepared the boat for departure. We headed out onto the lake in search of the delicious toothy critters and watched the glowing horizon with anxious excitement.

That’s when we got the surprise of the trip.

 …