Karl's Appearance on the Leadership Circle Podcast

One morning, as Karl was packing up some gear for a day of sailing, he asked his (at the time) 16-year-old son if he wanted to come with him that afternoon.

He knew his son would say no for one simple reason. His son always said no.

Karl was so sure, in fact, that he almost didn’t ask. But to his surprise, his son shrugged. “Sure, Dad, what time?”

As he made lunch and packed an extra towel, Karl couldn’t help but to smile to himself. He had an idea in his mind about what his afternoon was going to look like, and with one small shrug, it had taken on a completely different shape.

“Hey, Dad, we have extra life jackets, right?” his son asked. “I invited the guys to come with.”

Karl knew who his son was referring to. His son’s three best friends who he (and Karl) had known since they were in pre-school.

Before he knew it, Karl was driving four teenagers who didn’t seem entirely clear on what the plan was.

“Where are we going again?” One of them asked.

“We’re going sailing,” Karl reminded him. “But I have to warn you guys, it’s a bit windy, so it’s possible we’ll get up there and we won’t be able to do much sailing.”

The boy thought for a moment. “If we can’t sail, can we swim?”

As the day went on, Karl felt less and less like he was hanging out with his son’s friends and more and more like he was one of the guys, just hanging out on a regular Sunday afternoon, which quickly turned into an adventure.

It was windy, but they were still able to sail for a while, until a few of the boys wanted to swim. Karl navigated to a calmer cove and anchored the boat, and they all jumped in the water. They swam to the shore, explored the sand, found shells and cool looking rocks. They joked around, teased each other, and made up games. On the way home, they even stopped for ice cream.

The entire day, which Karl thought would include him having a calm, relaxing few hours on his sail boat, turned into a free flowing adventure where suggestions were immediately accepted and everybody laughed freely.

As they pulled into the driveway, one of the boys spoke up. “This was so much fun. Why don’t we do this all the time?”

Once again, Karl’s perception turned on a dime. He never thought his son, never mind a crew of his son’s friends, would want to come along with him sailing on a random weekend afternoon. They probably didn’t think it was their idea of a good time, either. And yet, when all of them let go of their expectations and let the magic of spontaneity happen, they had an incredibly memorable experience.

On the Embracing Unexpected Encounters episode of the Leadership Circle Podcast, Karl shares how many of the best outcomes, from the beginnings of Karl’s business to the lessons learned from working with customers to a spontaneous adventure with his son and his friends, are entirely unexpected.

Listen to the podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts for the full conversation.