Eva Rapkauskaite

All of us at least once in our lifetime had to run for a train or a bus, and 100% had to look for a seat wherever it be on: a train, a bus or on an airplane.
So how will this stress help YOU later in life?

1. Firstly, and probably the most important reason is that you will know how to be faster and think quicker.
2. You will have your own strategy of getting a seat.
3. Sometimes YOU will be ruthless and will get a seat before someone else.
4. Understand people’s body language and calculate the situations.
5. Be nice and give up your seat to older people/people who needs it – genuine and empathy
6. Don’t care what anyone else thinks!

What makes a successful Managing Director (MD) or Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company? Definitely not just a nice, black suit but something more… like ability to empower others, showing competence and being comfortable with chaos. So, listen up:

Critical thinking is one of the most important abilities in the business world. Someone with ability to think critically and quickly can separate not useful data from the important one and make a use of it. This helps to solve the problems faster and more efficiently, and that’s what the world of work wants.

• Once you are on the bus, just paid with your Leap card and well now it’s the time for a seat and you being a lazy student don’t want to be standing for the next 20 minutes, also it’s the rush hour!
• So, what do you do? You look around and bingo there is a seat at the very end of the bus, you think fast and quickly walk to that seat before anyone else does and BRAVO you just thought critically!

Having a strategy is also very important and knowing how to plan and take care of your business is what will make YOU and your company successful. Those CEOs and leaders that recognized the value of having a strategy and made the commitment of time and resources to manage its execution – improved their company performance by a lot.

• How does it link back to getting a seat on the train? Well once you buy a train ticket in a rail station and you did not book a seat online, you are already thinking: ‘Will I get a seat?’. Go over your choices: you have four coaches, so which one will be the fullest? Which one will be the emptiest? You choose coach D and BRAVO you do get a seat using your strategy – relax and enjoy the trip!

It’s often said that the most respected leaders are considered by many to be ruthless and heartless. Great leaders have to be tough and decisive. Most of the time their decisions will displease many, but they can’t effectively lead if every decision is the result of democracy (or can they?). It’s very easy to stay popular when you listen to everyone, but rarely will this drive a large company to success. Leaders must make the decisions taking all the data and information to an account. At the end of the day – they have to lead the way or step aside.

• We are once again on the bus or the train and guess what you got the seat ten seconds before someone else did, so now they are standing, and you are sitting. Happy times for you, sad times for them. This is a cruel world after all…

One of the most important part of communicating is body language, it makes up most of what we use to communicate and is generally much more accurate a judge of meaning than are the words. This is one of the first things people will notice when they meet you. Believe it or not, being able to read body language can help in life, especially in business world. Have you ever taken a moment to think about what you are saying with your body language?
If you haven’t, then now is the time:

• Smile and be confident
• Be interested and listen carefully
• Direct eye contact
• Sit up straight
• Nod when listening to someone speak
• Relax
• Keep your head up
• Do no cross your hands!

• When you get on the bus, you look around and see some people are standing and some people are sitting, you read the body language of others and understand when it is the time to move and get that seat of yours.

Surprisingly to be a good leader, you need to have empathy and be understandable. When you are at the top of the pyramid, it’s hard to find people who you can trust, so being nice always helps. Start by learning the names of people that you work with, it might be hard at first, but it will show that you are genuine and a good leader. Being nice will also empower others!

• You are on the bus, having your well-deserved seat after all the strategies, critical thinking and understanding the body language of others. And you see an older lady standing on the bus as there is no more seats left… will you let her stand? No, you will be kind and understandable, and you will give up your seat, that’s what good leaders do.

And lastly, leaders just don’t care what everyone else thinks. They are too confident for that. They do decisions that they know will give advantage to the company’s performance as well as themselves:

• Their decision made someone mad? They don’t care.
• Someone thinks their strategies are bad? They don’t care.
• Their decision brought success to the company? They do care.

So, don’t worry if you did not get that golden seat, you still have time in the future to become the best. (with the help of trains and busses stress of course)