My favorite television genre is reality TV. Especially anything having to do with treasure hunting. My wife thinks it is ridiculous that I believe the Ark of the Covenant could have been transported by the Knights Templar to a remote island in Nova Scotia and buried deep below the ground to hide it from society. Okay, I don’t believe it’s the Ark of the covenant, but there is something buried on Oak Island.

My favorite of the reality shows is Gold Rush. Gold Rush: White Water, a spin of the original Gold Rush show. It aired the first of its three seasons on January 19, 2018. The show follows the adventure of a father and son duo, known as the “Dakota Boys” and their crew as they seek a fortune in gold. Their method; scuba diving under the plunge pools of large waterfalls on McKinley Creek in Haines, Alaska, and suction dredging (basically a big vacuum hose) the surface below.

Rock-Lock

In season three, episode thirteen, The crew encounters an issue that hinders their goal of getting to bedrock gold. The hindrance is called “Rock Lock.” Over many years, the raging waters of McKinley Creek carry material, including gold-rich gravels, small and medium-sized rocks, and massive boulders down the creek. This all piles up in the plunge pool below as it tumbles over a waterfall. The material is then compressed down by the pounding water of the falls. As a result, the rocks get locked into place.

The Keystone

It becomes a struggle for the diver to move any of the rocks out of the way. The only way to move the pile of stones is to find the one “keystone” rock that unlocks the boulders. Once that one keystone rock is found and removed, it is more easy work to move the remaining stones. It hit me, rock-lock is what happens to so many people in so many areas of life. Rock-lock happens in relationships; it happens in organizations, and it can happen to an individual’s personal life.

Like a raging river, life is continuously flowing, many times at a torrent pace. Circumstance, crisis, poor choices, bad breaks happen, and like boulders, life can pile up and make us feel locked. But what if one keystone decision or action could unlock the area of your life? What if one move could make it easier to dispatch all the boulders, exposing the gold that lays on the bedrock of your relationship, your organization, your life?

My Experience With Rock-Lock

In 2012, I went through a leadership struggle. The pace of life and leadership was moving at a rapids pace. A situation with a staff member here (boulder), a re-org of a department there (rock), unresolved issues from the past (stones), and some deficiencies in my emotional intelligence piled up. Add in a bit of pressure, and life and leadership compressed to the point where I was stuck. I was rock-locked. Reflecting on that season, I see now that there was one keystone discovery that unlocked my leadership and allowed me to begin moving the boulders that had piled up. That keystone, for me, was empathy.

I realized that I was significantly under leveraging the emotional skill of empathy. I started working on increasing that one emotional skill and my leadership momentum unlocked, liberated to be able to continue “dredging” the potential of my leadership influence.

What About You?

So what about you? What if one decision or action could unlock your leadership, your marriage, your business, or your organization? Rock-lock happens, the fix is to patiently and deliberately search for the keystone. When you find it, you are on your way to bedrock.

I would love to hear your thoughts and stories of how you have seen this principle in your life. You can share your thoughts in the comment section below.