Great leaders don’t just manage people and projects. They inspire people to achieve more than they thought possible.
For those who embrace it, fly fishing is special. The river environment is a smoothie for the brain.
As I reflect on a recent trip out West, I understand how the sport rhymes with business:
It’s Personal. You gotta get out there and see the fish up close and personal. There is a term in fly fishing called Tight Lines. The gentle way to catch-and-release fish is to use a barbless hook, which better protects the fish’s mouth. Without the barb, though, you cannot have slack in the line, as the fish will shake off the hook. (They might shake it off anyway, so get used to it.) Thus, you need to keep the line taut. Tight Lines = the best kind of client relationship.
Prepare. Plan your service behind the offer. Find in advance where the fish are hanging out in the river, what equipment (gear and clothing) you need, and what the proper bait is — what the fish understands and wants to see, not necessarily you. Every client has their own approach to things. What is the product that the client wants?
Lean on Specialists. Sometimes you need a smart consultant for yourself, too — a fishing guide — who can help you succeed. By the way, the guides prefer catch-and-release fishing. They call the fish their “business partners,” and they don’t like to hurt them either.
Where’s Your Lane? Other people are fishing in the same general waters, so you need to find your unique spots where you can be successful on your own terms.
Move On. Sometimes you don’t catch the client — even though conditions seem ideal — and that’s just the way it goes. And you’ll make mistakes. You will miss some fish and some clients. So you need to sit down, figure out what went wrong, and fix it for the future. Certain fish will fly off the hook and leave you.
Find Your Folks. At the same time, you will have to let certain clients go. “I’ve Never Met an Idiot on the River,” is the topic of Henry Winkler’s book on fly fishing. (A genuinely nice dude, Henry came over and sat next to me in a fishing lodge last year.) Idiots don’t last long on the river — they usually wind up hurting themselves. If we can, we should avoid these difficult people (you know who I mean) in the business world.
Enjoy the Pace. Fishing forces us to be patient. Wait in Zen-like silence. It’s cathartic. I wonder: Is patience a lost quality in life and business?
Recharge. Don’t underestimate the value of being with nature. We humans aren’t meant to sit behind desks or hunch over phones.
Footnote: If you want to hear a similar perspective on this topic, check out this fun podcast with a fishing buddy and wholesale insurance icon Jerry Sullivan. “These two endeavors, where you harass fish and harass customers, have a lot of similarities,” he says.
Tight Lines, all!
Peter van Aartrijk is executive vice president of Aartrijk. He can be reached at peter@Aartrijk.com.
