The Five A’s of Ride Leadership
Today was day three of our AFMC Moab ride. The most important element of a good ride is always the weather and it has been superb, so that has been a blessing. We are all appreciating this good fortune. It is hard not to when you are sitting out in this magnificent landscape in near perfect weather that is warm and sunny and yet not too hot and with a pleasing breeze. So with that in place, we are down to roads and attitudes all of which have some good and bad qualities. I will keep that analogy going and say that all the tar snakes, bumps, potholes and gravel we may find on the Utah roads of all qualities don’t add up to an ounce of concern, especially given how wonderful most of the Utah roads are. The same can be said of our membership of the AFMC. We are not a perfect group by any standard, but we are, by definition, a normal and representative group of Everyman people within the broad context of the American middle class. We may have an above average level of income and/or wealth, but not by so very much. The reason for that is quite simple in that we pretty much let anyone who wants to be in the group into the group. Now, for someone to be introduced to the group they generally have to be a motorcyclist or be partnered with a motorcyclist, and since none of us are ever friends across all socioeconomic spectra, there may be some bias, but the fact that we are a wide sampling of America is best evidenced by the fact that our collective politics come close to mimicking the political leanings of the general population with somewhat balanced numbers of blue and red advocates and liberal and conservative advocates. So, if the roads are fine and the membership is fine, the big issue boils down to ride leadership.
Ride leadership has the same sensitivity as leadership and control in every aspect of life. Everyone wants it and hates it simultaneously. No one wants to be told what to do, especially when they are on vacation, and yet everyone seems to appreciate sound leadership to make the vacation go as well as possible. It is, by nature, a delicate balance. I have spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about this issue lately since I have effectively been the ride leader of the AFMC for 27 years now, a long organizational life by any standard. There have been some false moves to transition to new leadership and there have been some individual contributors to specific rides, but ride leadership is only partly about the ride of the moment and much more so about the long-term dynamics of the group and its interest in gathering for the next rides. So far, that has defaulted to me over time and as Socrates once said, “the unexamined life is not worth living.” Now Socrates said this at his trial for corrupting youth and he was eventually put to death for these acts, so one must be careful when using this dictum for any justification. Nonetheless, I have chosen to examine my life as a ride leader for the education of the “youth” of AFMC.
I have identified five A’s of ride leadership to make this explanation. Writers use mnemonics like five A’s so that people can remember what is being said and perhaps to keep them engaged in the lessons so that they stick with the story to the end, so please understand that I understand this control dynamic and use it for both those reasons and for the humor I hope to find in it.
A good ride leader must begin with Accountability. Someone has to be responsible for everything on a ride and even that is not really enough. Let’s be honest with one another and say that someone must be to blame for everything except maybe the weather, and even that gets discussed and assigned to the leader often for having chosen those particular days to have the ride. For our iconic annual Utah ride, we have always focused on the third week of May because it seems to fall right between the too cold and barren and the too hot and crowded. We want things to be open for business but not yet overcrowded. Weather too has generally proven good in mid-May though we are not without exceptions to that rule. Nevertheless, a good ride leader must be prepared to be accountable for the entire ride and the pleasure of that ride for each and every attendee. That is no mean feat with the diversity of membership we endorse. Happiness is relative and keeping people happy is hard. What is that old expression? You can’t please all of the people all of the time, but that is exactly what the good ride leader has to try to achieve.
A good ride leader must also be Attentive to detail. The rides are nothing but a accumulation of details, like any type of travel. They are specific and quite motorcycle-centric details to be sure, but there are general lifestyle details as well. Advice on where to get a rental ride is an obvious one. Since Utah is a relatively remote state (at least the parts we like the best) there is also the choice of venue from which to launch. Should you come in from Salt Lake City, Denver, Phoenix of Las Vegas? Should you even use those hubs or do your particulars cause you to bootstrap in from somewhere else or just ride in or travel in by car and trailer on your own? Where do we stay? Do we go point-to-point or stay put and do day rides? Do you book for others or let them book for themselves? Do you offer meals and if so, which do you plan versus recommend versus leave to everyone’s own devices? Do you have alternative activities for non-riders or riders-lite? Rafting? Ballooning? Museum tours? Shopping expeditions? And what about spa services? Do you have a massage program and if so, how do you orchestrate that? Even details like dinner times and wheels-up times are contentious issues that have to be attended to with a degree of care. Quality of service and food also matter a lot and are a big part of attentiveness. And of course, there is the economic accounting, which is always fun with a bunch of Alpha males and females. Suffice it to say that without attentiveness to everyone’s needs and wants, the ride is in for some serious trouble…or more of it than normal at least.
A good ride leader must have a high degree of Awareness. This is somewhat different from Attentiveness because Attentiveness is mostly in the planning, where Awareness is all about keeping your wits about you on the field of play and seeing, hearing and feeling the mood of the crowd. It is the motorcycling equivalent of calling an audible in football. You have to adjust to keep everyone happy and adjust to fit the circumstances being thrown at you. Needless to say, a libertarian group like ours sometimes tells you when they plan to come and go and sometimes not so much. Some are vocal and some simmer quietly. A good ride leader is supposed to be aware of all of these nuances and incorporate a constantly evolving plan to get the maximum happiness out of the ride for everyone. The most important element of Awareness is Self-Awareness, and that gets us back to Socrates and the ability to reflect on what one is doing right and wrong in the leadership role at any given moment.
A good ride leader must know how to Apologize. Because everything that goes wrong is your fault as the leader, one must keep a spare apology in one’s pocket at all times and it must be delivered easily, rapidly and without any reservation or contingency. “I’m sorry you feel that way,” doesn’t cut it. It needs to be something more like, “I’m sorry I fucked up and will try not to do it again.” I should note that some members are hesitant to accept the quick apology sensing that it may be too easy of a palliative. Nonetheless, it usually gives the leader the guileless upper hand in future conversations if he has given out the unconditional apology rather than letting his ego or hurt feelings govern (no “thankless task” talk is allowed by leaders in public…only with their spouses in the dead of night).
And now the fifth and final A that you have all been waiting for anxiously, and that is Asshole. Yes it’s true and yes it is a necessary truth. As Jack Nicholson famously said, maybe “you can’t handle the truth”, but a ride leader cannot exist without some quotient of Asshole in him. The extent and the nature of his assholic behavior is a factor for sure and everyone will disagree on the metric thereof, but if you grasp the concept that the leader is by definition part Asshole, you will be a happier camper for sure.
So, from a 27-year veteran ride leader who is totally accountable, tries to be attentive to everyone’s needs, is as aware as possible of the changing gridiron, plays the apologist extraordinaire (I learned long ago that apologies are one of the best values in the interpersonal arsenal), and is prepared to admit to being a healthy quotient of asshole in the mix, ride on AFMC.