Two Babies, One Flight, One Leadership Lesson

I was on a plane recently. Two babies on board. I could hear one somewhere behind me, crying hard. Poor baby. Unfortunate passengers(!). Real life. 🤷🏻‍♀️

The other baby was next to me. Yes, next to me.

In my younger days, I'll admit, I would have been quietly (or not so quietly) annoyed. But that's a story for another newsletter.

This baby was traveling with her young dad, who had taken extended paternity leave and was completely present. Their first solo trip. Not performing parenthood. Actually in it.

At one point, I noticed she stirred from her sleep, but before she could even fully wake up, he gently stroked the spot between her brows. She settled. Just like that.

Total fussy time for the entire flight? Maybe one minute.

I saw his leadership.

What that dad understood, instinctively or intentionally, is that presence changes everything. He wasn't waiting for her to cry, and then reacting. He was already with her. Tuned in. Reading her before she even knew what she needed.

Here's the leadership question worth sitting with:

Do you know your people that well? Not their job titles or their deliverables, but what settles them? What they need before they even ask for it? What a single, well-timed gesture of awareness could do for the dynamic between you?

Two babies. Same flight. Very different experiences.

Presence was the difference.