#483 honk

I was backing out of a parking space at the grocery store and saw that a man in a pickup truck was waiting for my space so I backed out further.  The woman across from me also saw that the pickup was waiting, but she did not see me (or vice versa).  You can guess what happened next.

After the impact, we both pulled back into our spots and got out to assess the damage (which fortunately was minimal).  Yet the man in the truck pulled by without so much as a second glance.

Another witness came up the aisle and was ranting about the man in the truck:  "Why didn't he honk?  Why did he just sit there and watch you two hit each other?  What was he thinking?!"  I wondered that myself.

In many ways, the man who watched and did nothing was as much at fault as the woman who backed into me.  He had a birds eye view of impending trouble and did nothing.  I guess he was thinking that it was not his problem.

Do you find yourself in situations where you act like the man in the truck -- staying out of situations where you could be of assistance because you aren't really involved?  The thing is that you are involved, because you are seeing the situation and you are a member of the community where it is happening.  You have an obligation to "honk" -- either literally or in a more formal or verbal way -- when something wrong is taking place.  Don't just sit there and watch a wreck happen -- in a parking lot or in your organization.

-- beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com

@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com