I’m the type that likes to take control in a situation where a leader is needed.  I don’t think about it; it just happens.  I just step in and do what needs to be done — usually while people are still standing around gawking.

For instance, a little over a year ago, one of the horses at the barn where I boarded my gelding was injured pretty badly.  There were three of us there, and while the other two women walked up to the horse to gawk, I took one look and ran back to the tack room for a stack of clean rags and towels I kept there, so that we could stop the bleeding and make a bandage while we waited for the vet.  If I hadn’t have been there to think of that, that horse probably would have stood there and bled until the vet arrived.

Another example: My high school reunion was two years ago, and man it was really awful.  The invitations were sent out at the last minute, and were nothing more than typed pages printed out on the computer — full of misspellings, I might add.  Not many people came, either, because on top of the invitations going out late, they really didn’t do a very good job of getting in touch with people and planning the reunion.  So when they passed around a volunteer sign-up sheet for the next class reunion, I quite happily added my name and contact information to it.

So when the parents of the kids I babysit for complain about their kids’ sports teams being disorganized, I can’t help but tell them to do something about it.  There are some great team management software programs out there that they could suggest to make organizing everything a little easier.  Or perhaps they should just volunteer to help where it’s needed, and believe me you can usually tell, to ensure things don’t fall apart.

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