The other day my wife and I were driving to a gathering in a neighborhood we had not been to before. The homes were all unique with stone facing and a variety of styles. The landscaping at each home was meticulous.
As the driver what really caught my attention were the speed bumps. Every single street had two or three of these spaced out based on the length of the street. There was not one single street in this area which did not have multiple speed bumps. Yes there were signs to warn you and to note the exact location for each speed bump.
It turns out the speed bumps were placed there for a few reasons.
The first one, which is the most obvious, is to slow down the speed of any vehicles driving through this neighborhood. The second reason was to protect the children in the area who might be either crossing the road or playing in or near to the road. The third reason, which may not be so obvious, is to reduce the road traffic as people who know the speed bumps are there would avoid these roads unless they had to drive into the area for a specific reason or to visit someone.
Isn’t this how it is in our business and our lives? Don’t we hit speed bumps at various times? Now we are not talking about a dead end, we are talking about a speed bump.
So people might just say – “well I know there are speed bumps if I go that way so I am not going that way.”
Sometimes we take note of the warning signs and other times we are totally taken off guard. Yes, of course there are others who will not slow down at all and just plow right through. We all know what that will do to your car if you try that out on the road. Maybe speed bumps in our business, career and our lives are meant for us to slow down and think about what it is that we are doing?
What are we trying to achieve? What are we really focused on?
The road with the speed bumps may be the road less traveled. The road to success in life and in business may be a road like that as well. It seems clear to me we need to recognize the speed bumps when they are present, take note, slow down and consider what are we doing and why are we doing it?
Mitch Tublin runs a boutique consulting firm with a main focus on leadership development, strategic initiatives and executive coaching. Based in Stamford, CT. he has clients all over the world.
“It’s not like I let people do things for me, so I guess you can call me a control freak, or you can call me passionate.” ~Courteney Cox 
“It’s not like I let people do things for me, so I guess you can call me a control freak, or you can call me passionate.” ~Courteney Cox 
It was a gorgeous summer day. Clear blue skies with hardly a cloud. A slight breeze and little humidity. My windows were rolled down, the air conditioning was off, the sound system was off, the cell phone was off and driving along the highway at 55 MPH… it was a gorgeous summer day. The quiet, the smells of summer with a light breeze coming in the car windows. All was good. Really good.
The majority of us drive on an interstate or some type of highway a few times a week or more. On a three lane highway, ever notice the impact of someone who is driving a car in the center lane, yet, at a reduced speed of ten to fifteen MPH less than the speed limit which may have them clocked at twenty to twenty five MPH less than the majority of traffic? The impact is almost always an accident waiting to happen. The left lane is constantly flowing past this car in a steady stream of vehicles. The right lane has cars lining up to pass as well only slightly less organized and flowing than the left lane.
he cave dweller syndrome may be impacting your ability to connect, communicate and socialize. A CEO may have cave dweller syndrome. This is when the CEO has the hidden corner office and rarely comes out to interact with fellow employees. A large publicly traded company CEO may have access to a limo, a protection team and a private jet. Not much interaction going on here with the “regular folks”.