With school starting back, I’ve been thinking about when I was in grade school and how those years affected me. Sure, I learned what most people learned – math, writing, teamwork, sharing – but there were also valuable lessons I learned outside the classroom too. And, while it’s been years since I’ve stepped foot on a school playground, those distant recess games are still paying off in my professional life, and probably in your’s too, if you think about it. Hide and Seek
To keep hunting until you found all your hiding friends or to keep quiet until you were discovered took both diligence and patience – two characteristics every leader needs to have in order to be successful. Plus, you learned the art of communicating your plans to your team when you yelled “Ready or not, here I come!”

Jump Rope
In jumping rope and business, timing is everything. So, you had to learn to gauge the situation before jumping in – a practice most leaders would do good to remember, especially when committing themselves, their team, or their business to a major initiative. Plus, there’s the valuable art of multi-tasking. After all, which is harder, to navigate two jump ropes while turning around and clapping or to oversee 10 employees while managing a budget and monitoring your business’s public image?

Dodgeball
A business leader’s life can feel like a daily game of dodgeball, so your training during recess wasn’t for nothing. Thinking fast is the only way to keep winning the game. But, you can’t ram your way through the work week without a plan and some finesse. You have to navigate through a minefield of aggressors and victims, whether its foam balls flying at you or project deadlines.

Those younger years seem so easy and care free, which they probably were for the most part. But, don’t think you didn’t gain anything from them! Leadership lessons can be found just about anywhere, including your childhood playground. Can you think of other lessons you learned from school or recess?