“Anomalous” leadership tip from frozen Lake Ontario

The universal scientific principles in Physics are always a fascinating topic to read and understand. As school children, we were always focusing on memorizing them and devising ways to score high marks in the examinations. Very few of us would have really appreciated them in a different perspective at that age. As we grow older, when we get a chance to browse through high school Physics, it makes us perceive the subject differently. Luckily, we can enjoy reading and assimilating the essence, since there are no exam pressures for us now.

One such scientific law is called as the “Anomalous expansion of water”. Let us travel to one of the five great lakes of North America, Lake Ontario during winter to observe this unusual phenomenon. As we all know, in winter, the temperature starts to drop down.

As the temperature drops up to 4 degree Celsius, water keeps on contracting and becoming denser. At this particular point, it has the maximum density and starts to behave differently. Below 4 degree Celsius, the lake water starts expanding and the density decreases. This means that the top layer of the lake remains frozen.

This layer of solid ice floats above and acts as an insulating blanket for the liquid water below. Water has changed its phase from liquid to solid, just to protect and give life to millions of aquatic animals below. This is due to this unusual behaviour of water. Thank God, this natural behaviour is so consistent all over the globe! If not for this behaviour, every winter, the aquatic life would have got wiped out in this planet. The aquatic animals may not even know that there are severe winter conditions above the protective, ice blanket and keep swimming away, happily in warm waters below.

Each one of us, in whatever situation we are in, whether in personal or professional lives, need to bring out our best in inspiring our team, however small it may be. The tough and challenging situations, which every team has to face are like the extreme conditions faced by Lake Ontario, every winter.

There is no choice here, since it is a periodic ritual. Here, is the time, when we need to up the ante and show our mettle as leaders. Just like the anomalous behaviour of water, leaders need to change and adapt themselves so much in tough situations. Their prime goal should be to insulate and empower their team members, so that they can survive and contribute their best. It could be possible that the team members may not be even aware of the tough situations outside, if their leader displays lot of maturity.

Let us make use of this “Anomalous” leadership tip judiciously to enliven our teams during all the seasons. After all, every team member always looks forward and deserves to have an inspiring leader at the top!