A Story Of A Toaster

This is not just any toaster.

This is an illustration of a leadership quality that I struggle with.

Thanks for reading Adventures In Leadership! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Subscribed

This toaster is approximately 20+ years old.

And… up to this week, it consistently toasted our bread, bagels, and English muffins without failure.

This toaster was purchased by my in-laws 20 some odd years ago and then handed to my now wife when she entered college and then moved with us across state lines for graduate school. And after 15 years of marriage, 2 kids, 2 apartments, and 1 house the toaster has finally started to show signs of inconsistency.

It’s started to stay on even after the toast and bagels have popped and randomly started to heat up when no one was using it.

To tell you the truth, I’ve kind of wanted a new toaster for a while. Probably related to my deep seated need to satisfy some inner longing with the newest consumer product.

But the toaster just kept working.

Today, we often equate quality with the material something is made out of or the way something was made or where it was made but something we don’t often talk about is the quality of consistency.

Compare this toaster to the first coffee maker we owned.

Being the lover of coffee that I am I asked for an expensive $150 coffee maker for our wedding.

That expensive, highly rated coffee maker lasted 1 year before giving out.

A few months past its warranty.

This toaster lasted 20.

Which one of these products was built with higher quality?

When it comes to leadership, consistency is the hardest attribute to learn.

You have people with amazing raw natural talent and ability who will fizzle out in a month or two because they lack consistency.

Raw charisma, and skill matter little in the grand scheme of things, where you went to school, what you accomplished in your past, where you grew up, what title you held or hold at some company. None of it matters as much as the consistency from which you lead.

Do you have a reputation of consistency?

Are you like my toaster or my fancy coffee maker?