Lead, Don't Rescue Part 4: Leaders Go Upstream

Imagine this- two men are walking along a river when they spot a child in the water, struggling to stay afloat. Without hesitation, they dive in and pull the child out. But then another child comes down the river. And another. And another.

Panicked, they keep grabbing child after child, doing everything they can to save them. Suddenly, one man climbs out of the water and starts running upstream.

The other yells, “Where are you going?! I need your help down here!”

Moments later, the river is calm. No more children. The man returns, and the one who had stayed behind said angrily, "why did you leave? What if I would have lost one?!"

The man who had left replied, “I went upstream to tackle the guy who was throwing them in.”

This story, from "Upstream" by Dan Heath, is a powerful picture of the difference between rescuing problems and solving them at the source. In leadership, we often get so busy reacting, saving, and fixing, that we never pause long enough to go upstream.

We stay in the river, worn out and overwhelmed, because we believe that's the only way to help. Sometimes the most impactful thing we can do is step back, look upstream, and lead change at the root.

Do You Feel Like You’re Always Saving the Day?

You care—you’re on it—you jump in.  You feel like you're winning because you're solving real problems. But here's the catch: If you’re the one always solving the problem, your team will keep waiting for you to solve the problem.

💡 Leadership Shift:
STOP being the rescuer.
Better - Start training your team to find solutions.
Best - Start training your team to go upstream and solve the problem at the root. 

Reflection Questions for Leaders:

• What “fires” do I constantly put out that keep coming back?
  
  
• What’s driving me to stay in the rescue mode? Control? Fear? Hero complex?
  
  
• Where am I rescuing people instead of developing systems, people, or leaders?
  
  
• Who or what might be “throwing the kids in the river”—and am I willing to go find it?
  
  
• What would it take for me to step away from the urgent and focus on the important?
  
  

Here’s the bottom line:
If everything depends on you jumping in the river or putting out the fire, you’re not leading. You’re bottlenecking.

But the good news?
You can shift—today.

Start asking more questions.
Start creating space for ownership.
Start leading with belief instead of rescue.

🤔Do you find yourself tempted to rescue more than lead? We’d love to show you more about what we do at LevelUp2Lead.

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🔥 Up Next:

Is Your Leadership Creating Growth or Dependence?
How to shift from being the answer to building people who can answer for themselves.