5 Traits of a Kiteboarder that make a Great Business Leader

While learning to be a kiteboarder, I realized the traits required of me to be a proficient kiter were the same ones that make a good business leader. Here’s how:

1) Commitment – to Long Term Goal Achievement.

When you take up kiteboarding, you realize very quickly that you have just committed to a long term goal! Only now do I understand how funny it is when people say “I want to try that, can you show me?”. It is a process like no other, and when I say that, I mean One. Long. Process. At least it is for those of us who had no prior experience to speak of with board sports such as snowboarding, wake boarding or surfing. When my boyfriend introduced me to the sport, I went in thinking I’m not sure about this…but I’ll give it a try. Little did I know that commitment would equate to 25 hours of private lessons, countless hours in the water practicing on my own over an 18 month period in several water bodies. Ok, I have to admit it was more enjoyable trying it in St Lucia; even when you suck, at least you have that beauty around you for inspiration! But most of my learning was right here on the Texas coast of South Padre Island…not the prettiest of water, but consistent wind and shallow depths made this an amazing location to practice. And, the people at Kite Beach there were so very supportive to learners, including my amazing Coach. I put myself in the right area, with the right conditions, with the right people, and over time, a LOT of time, it all came together. Finally.

So how does this relate to being a business leader? Leaders are required to commit to long term business goals, and then meet them in the face of troubling times and many challenges that become obstacles to success. There are some really complex large-scale initiatives I’ve worked on before in L&D, and watched my late husband manage huge projects at a high tech computer router company. Sometimes people, budget or technology get in the way of a smooth project completion. There’s tension and frustrations and conflicts. But no matter what obstacles occur, a leader plugs along day-in and day-out, keeping their eye on the ball, inspiring others to do the same. They trust the process, albeit sometimes painful and slow….but a process that will ultimately lead to success. Because smart leaders know success requires them to surround themselves with the right people and environment to assist them in achieving their goals. And finally, when it all comes together, that leader looks back on the last year and says, “Well done, we did it!”. That is an amazing feeling.

2) Courage – in the Face of Fear.

“Courage is being fearful and doing it anyway”. There have been many times in my life I was fearful, but especially when I lost my young spouse suddenly of a heart attack. What was next for my children and myself? I decided to look fear in the face and move forward and even started a Facebook page called Faith vs Fear to help others in scary life moments. And as a Life Coach, I thought I had a handle on Fear. Until kiting. This sport unleashed all my anxiety! I mean, I could DIE doing this or get hurt very badly; I could drown, or get caught up in the kite lines and be maimed, or get a head injury by crashing and hitting the board. I’d heard stories. And even if I escaped injury, what if I couldn’t learn the sport after trying for years? What if I embarrass my boyfriend who was a pro? Every time I entered the water for a lesson or for practice on my own, I was terrified. I forced a smile and a good attitude in spite of the fear. Some sessions ended in my secretly wiping away my tears of frustration and failure. Finally, it hit me – I would Not. Let. This. Beat. Me. Even when a gusty wind pulled me and my kite up 5 ft in the air – super man style – and slammed me on the water face first, I would suit up the next day in my wet suit, impact vest, waist harness and all the barrage of gear and walked into that (sometimes murky) water and manage my mind monkey and say to myself “I got this, you will not beat me, I will conquer you”. So glad another girl kiter told me, “talk to the kite, out loud, it helps”. It sure did; I controlled it, it didn’t control me.

In business, we encounter scary situations as leaders. The winds around us change and sometimes we find ourselves in uncharted waters. We have to push ourselves through the scary times and have faith in the end result. Think about reorganizations you’ve been involved in over the years and how nerve-wracking those are…who are the new players?…will I get (and like) a new boss?…how will my job change?…and the scariest of them all…will I be laid off? Or, if self employed like me, will I lose a client if they aren’t satisfied or if their budgets are cut drastically (because people development is always the first to go in budget cuts). Have you ever had a high-level, high-stakes presentation? Even though I speak for a living, I still get anxious before a really big presentation. I spoke on Political Pitfalls for Women to a women’s leadership group for a high-tech company in Dallas, and when I walked into the event center, I suddenly realized they were simulcasting it around the country to every employees computer! Heart racing. I needed a few minutes in the bathroom mirror before countdown to manage that mind monkey. “I got this, I’ve done this hundreds of times, they will like me and I will succeed!”. Same self-talk, different place; it works. Even if fearful, suit up and go back in…the water’s fine.

3) Risk Taking – with Cautious Curiosity.

In learning to kite, you sometimes you lose your board from a crash, and if you simultaneously lose the stronger wind, it’s impossible to get back to shore by flying your kite. And when your car looks like a dot on the beach, you realize you have a LONG way to walk carrying all your board and kite through chest-deep water. After doing that once or twice, I realized sometimes you don’t have control out in the water, and that I would have to take that risk if I was to learn how to judge the winds before kiting too far out in the ocean. But the most important thing I learned was to be cautious and understand safety procedures before embarking on an extreme sport like kiting. I’d learned as a beginner I should wear an impact vest for flotation and protection, to correctly connect my kite lines to the bar, to release the lines quickly so you’re not connected to a large kite out of control, to wrap my lines up in the water and to flip the kite upside down to connect it to my harness so the wind wouldn’t catch it and take me away. And, most importantly, I learned my boyfriend would always be close – kiting with me with a watchful eye. I should have trusted that I knew how to take risks with cautious curiosity and learn the sport. Not stupidly, but cautiously…being confident in my knowledge and skills. And, because of that, and continuing to take cautious and calculated risks, I can proudly say I am a novice kiter now!

In business, leaders need to rake risks to achieve higher levels of success in their career. Recently, I had an opportunity to learn and deliver a global leadership program at a computer hardware/software company based in Austin. When I moved to the area, one my goals was to land them as a client so this was one of those put-it-in-the-universe-and-it-happens-kinda-deals. Then I got a phone call asking me to deliver a leadership program there. I hesitated – why, you ask? Fear of failure. This gig was risky…to learn in less than a week’s time a 3-day program I hadn’t seen, much less delivered. Leaders were flying in from around the globe and they expected a strong leader and a dynamic, valuable program. How did I get through it? I did it with cautious curiosity and asked a lot of questions before the program, because as they say, “it’s not having the right answers, it’s knowing the right questions”. Once I received the information and people resources I needed, I trusted that the risk was worth taking and that I had a safety net. After all the hours of course prep, the time to deliver the program was upon me. And, guess what? Just like the day I was able to put it all together and ride that board while flying a kite, propelled with the wind….everything came together to deliver a successful training program. Preparation meets opportunity equals success. The program was a success and the leaders were happy, as was I. But what really put a smile on my face was when the client asked me to do several more programs within the company, and I was referred to other areas of the company for more work! I stepped out of my comfort zone, asked many questions, worked hard, and succeeded. It’s true…no risk, no reward.

4) Determination – to Learn and Apply.

To learn kiteboarding, one must be determined and committed. When I was introduced to the sport, I was told I needed to learn to fly a kite first. How hard can that be? I flew one as a kid. The difference is these kites can be 17 meters in size, and when you’ve got 25 mph winds, you learn quickly and painfully the power of mother nature. I’ll never forget the first kite flying lesson where the wind overpowered me and up I went into the air, landing face down in the sand! I had sand in my mouth even the next day. Good news is that when you can control the kite in various wind conditions, you’re half way there. I was determined to do this well, because I had no board skills – no snow boarding or wake boarding in my past. Crash after crash trying to ride that board in the water, I realized I sucked. But, after witnessing a 70 year old man kiting I thought, if he can do this, surely I can! So I learned to ride on a board, but only going downwind. My coach sternly told me after seeing my out-of-control rides that I had to learn to ride upwind. This involves turning and edging the board so you can control your speed and get back to shore on your own without a rescue or the dreaded walk of shame. In spite of an arm injury and a deflated ego, I kept at it day after day trying various boards and kites to see how they affected my performance. Then my boyfriend promised me a steak dinner at the nicest place in town once I stayed upwind. That challenge motivated me and that steak dinner was the best tasting meal I’ve ever had. I could now kite upwind! Determination, time commitment, and a no-quit attitude all guided my success and to this day I feel it’s been one of my greatest accomplishments…right up there with my solo trip to an African photo safari in the bush of Tanzania during the great migration, but that’s another story.

As a new entrepreneur 24 years ago when I started my professional development firm, I was fortunate in that my former employer became my first client. I was blessed to double my previous income as a new business and it was exciting! What started out as an experiment and a risky move in the eyes of my advisor (my father) became a booming business. A business so strong, in fact, that I had to recruit people to help meet the work demand. I loved that feeling of succeeding in the face of fear and proving I was right to take the leap of faith. Fast forward one year later. The telecom and high tech bubble burst. Devastating. I learned the importance of diversification. I was determined to see my business succeed, keep my trainers employed, and be a contributing force to my family with a new baby. Failure was not an option. My business had crashed early, just like my initial kiting sessions. I could have easily quit and headed back to a full time corporate job, but I realized I needed to stick with it and try a different approach. So I set off to network, get referrals, marketed to various industries, joined associations and applied to speak at conferences. Things started happening. Our client base now includes nearly every industry in Corporate America. Today, we are a global firm serving Fortune 500 clients – specializing in moving left brained leaders into their right minds through learning the 3 P’s of Leadership: presentations, people skills and political savvy. Determination to learn new things and apply that knowledge, leverage our experience, and reach out to new people to create partnerships over time…without getting discouraged from set-backs, fuels our success today. Leading a business is a lot like learning to kite; trying, failing, reinventing, learning more, experimenting, trying again, and again, until finally you succeed!

5) Mindfulness…staying aware in the moment.

When you’re learning kiting, to be successful and learn quickly, you must be ever aware of the conditions of the changing wind direction, the waves, and therefore what your body must do to keep riding. The goal as a newbie is to not crash. Crashing is NOT fun, and is painful on so many levels, physically and mentally. Every moment riding can require a different strategy and movement of your body. Nothing stays the same in kiting. If the wind picks up and is gusty, you have to de-power your kite while riding. If you don’t have enough wind, you power it up. If you get going too fast downwind, you have to push your arms and kite bar way out – called sheeting. Another strategy for slowing down is knowing when to start edging your board by turning your hips and your head in the direction you wish to go, upwind. It helps if you let go of the bar with one hand that is pointed upwind so your body turns more easily (what? let go of the bar? scary!). This is done while simultaneously pushing your heels down on the back of your board to edge. As you can probably tell by now, there’s a lot going on moment-by-moment to avoid crashing and keep riding. Your long term goal is to have a great session, but you can’t be thinking two or three steps ahead while you are trying to kite. There’s also no way you can think of anything else while kiting, besides kiting. That’s why people are attracted to the sport…it’s so mind-freeing! The key learning is being mindful of your body and what to do with your equipment in the ever-changing conditions, which will give you a safe, and hopefully, a long, fun ride.

I remember reading once about a respected CEO in Corporate America. When someone asked him how he got everything done and was so successful, he said that he didn’t multi-task as many think is the key. He said HIS key to success was staying mindful in the moment, having laser-like focus on the item or person in front of him until it was completed with quality before moving on to the next item. Wow, that philosophy is foreign to most of us in business today trying to juggle a hundred things a day! Add to that parenting and a social life, and well, you get the idea…stress and always feeling like we fall short in one of our roles, right? I have a feeling that particular CEO also prioritized well and said NO to things that weren’t truly important to his goals. The late Dr Stephen Covey once said, “It’s easy to say NO to something when there’s a burning YES in you for something else”. So true. If business leaders today lived by that philosophy, combined with the laser-like focus on each important task or person before them, I’d bet they and their business unit would be wildly successful! But alas, it’s easy to get distracted from the important thing in front of you and ignore irrelevant less important (but seemingly urgent) things. If we can achieve this mindful state, we can certainly achieve our goal without crashing and burning! Just like in kiting when you need laser-like focus on the one thing keeping you afloat. Nothing else matters in the moments you are adjusting your body and your kite to stay on top of the water – you can think of nothing else. And THAT is what helps us be successful in business; focusing intently on the thing we are trying to achieve, without distraction, staying IN THE MOMENT and adjusting as needed with the person or task until the conversation or task is completely achieved with quality.

The same traits required to be a proficient kiteboarder – Commitment, Courage, Determination, Risk Taking, and Mindfulness- are the same ones that make us good leaders in business. Same skills, different place. Whether you find yourself in the boardroom or on a kiteboard like me, I wish you smooth sailing!

Holly St John Peck
President, Women’s Kiteboarding Collective