Sometimes you have to take a risk to make much needed changes. Not just in your life, but in the lives of others.
Recently, I shared the stage with leadership coach, speaker, and author Debbie Brannan. She told a story about a guy with, frankly, more guts than I have. He took a risk, fully confident that he could make a difference in the lives of total strangers. And he did it during a brief elevator ride with people he’d never met before and will probably never see again.
I asked Debbie if she would allow me to share her story with you. Here’s Deb:
I was working on the 45th floor of a very corporate/formal setting. After spending the day with my team for a certification program that was heavy and challenging, myself and two other colleagues entered the elevator and began chatting about our day.
Now, this corporate building was very traditional/formal. As we left our 45th floor and began the descent to the lobby, our first stop had 3 “suits” walk in. You know, the formal, very expensive tailored suits. Very serious faces made it look like it had been a tough day at the office.
My colleague Steve stood next to me, and you should know, he is a former police officer and enjoys the corporate world shenanigans more than the tougher type of calls he used to do. So, Steve nudges me and quietly whispers “Watch this!”
Now, I know Steve well enough to know that whatever he had just decided to play was probably NOT a good idea. Especially in an elevator with the “suits”. But, there was no stopping him.
Suddenly Steve says (in a booming voice) “Listen up everybody!” Everyone kind of jumped and eyed him suspiciously as he continued, “We are going to play a little game here”. Now… please know that this sounds a bit disturbing as you are trapped in an elevator dozens of floors from the lobby.
“I’m going to say a word, and when you hear the word, I want you to think of a song that has that word somewhere in the lyrics. I’ll start off easy – the first word is “LOVE”.
Silence.
Then this little voice from a female “suit” in the back of the elevator started “All you need is love”… We cheered, and Steve exclaimed “YES! Let’s do it some more! Here’s another word…Mountain”
A pause, and then another person (a suit!) sang “Aint no mountain high enough”…
YES! More cheering.
We continued as we made our way down those 40 some floors, Steve continued to toss out one word at a time; happy, car, sunshine… it didn’t matter, someone always had a song to come back with.
As we reached the lobby, the final word was “Chain”… silence. The doors opened, and no one got out. Someone held the door open until someone (who had been quiet the entire time) boomed out this low bass voice with “chain, chain, chain, chainnnnn”! The elevator broke out in cheers and laughter as we made our way out to the giant lobby. “The suits” went one way, and we went ours.
Suddenly Steve stopped us and told us to turn around. We turned and saw “the suits” walking towards the entrance to the subway and they were still playing the game. A word… then someone singing a few song verses and laughing.
We stayed for a while talking about the mood/energy changes that took place during our elevator ride. And now what kind of energy is going home to their families vs the energy that they entered the elevator with.
We all have a ripple effect on the people around us, whether we know it or not. What kind of ripple/energy/experience do you want to leave people with to go back out into the world?
