Blog 22: The Next Right Step – The Journey Is the Work (Revisited)

The Next Right Step: Leadership Lessons in Strength, Surrender, and Trust

Leadership isn’t just about strength—it’s about knowing when to carry, when to let go, and when to trust. Discover how resilience and presence shape true leadership.

From Carrying the Pack to Trusting the Process

My son and I were deep into a 10-day trek when he stopped mid-climb, dropped his pack, and said what he’d been holding in for miles:

“I can’t be you. I quit.”

I told this story six weeks ago. But the trail didn’t end there.

There was no shortcut back. No one coming to save us. Just miles of trail behind us, and more ahead.

He didn’t need a lecture.
He didn’t need a lesson.
He needed a load lifted.

So I carried his pack. And we walked in silence.

Eventually, he stepped beside me and asked, “Need help with that?”

That moment wasn’t about reaching the summit.
It was about finding strength after you think you’ve lost it.

When Carrying Isn’t Enough

That was 2010. But the real story came two years later.

My son wanted to return. Same mountain. New crew. This time without me. He needed to prove to himself he could carry his own pack.

But one month before that trek, everything changed.

On May 14, 2012, he collapsed in his math classroom from sudden cardiac arrest.

• Teachers performed CPR.
  

• A defibrillator restarted his heart.
  

• He was resuscitated—alive, but unresponsive.
  

I was 35 minutes away at work. My carpool crew pushed speed limits and got me to the hospital in 20. In the back seat, I sat still, praying for strength I didn’t have.

On that mountain trail, I could carry his pack.
In that hospital room, I couldn’t carry anything, not his weight, not his pain, not his outcome.

And that day, I learned: leadership isn’t always about effort. Sometimes it’s about surrender.

Two Types of Leadership Moments

Every leader will face both kinds of moments:

The Mountain Moment:
Someone says, “I can’t do this,” and you step in to carry the weight.

The Hospital Moment:
You realize no amount of effort will fix it and the only way forward is trust, surrender, and presence.

The wisdom is in knowing the difference.

My son eventually went back to that mountain. Without me. This time, when the load got heavy, his peers, his team, and his guides helped him carry it. That’s leadership too—learning to let others step in.

What Leadership Really Demands

Now, nearly six months into building SemitaCor, I keep returning to this truth:

• Leadership isn’t always power. Sometimes it’s presence.
  

• It isn’t always fixing. Sometimes it’s walking with.
  

• You can’t carry everything. You were never meant to.
  

Sometimes the most courageous thing you can do is take the next right step. Or let someone else take theirs.

Your Reflection

Are you in a mountain moment, called to carry someone else’s load?

Or a hospital moment, invited to surrender what’s too heavy to hold?

Leadership isn’t just strength. It’s discernment. It’s surrender. It’s trust.

This is the journey.
This is the work.
This is your semita cor—where your heart meets the path you’re called to walk.

What’s one moment where surrender, not strength, was your wisest move?
Or where in your leadership are you still trying to carry what isn’t yours to hold?