Leadership in Life (and Death)

This week, I read about two pretty incredible women whose stories are worth sharing. 

The first is a woman named Debbie Bolton. Bolton was at the airport in Omaha, Nebraska when a man in front of her faced a serious dilemma. You see, he was traveling with his two-year old daughter. However, when the father booked the trip, his daughter wasn’t two yet, and since children under two fly for free, he’d never bought her a ticket. 

It was a mistake anyone could make, but the issue was, because he was being asked to buy her a ticket the day of the flight, it was $749, and he couldn’t afford that. Distraught, he began making phone calls, trying to figure out a plan. 

In stepped Bolton. She’d overheard the conversation and told the ticket agent that she would be buying the ticket for the little girl and handed over her credit card. 

Bolton is the co-founder and global chief sales officer at a company called Norwex. I’ve never heard of them. I imagine you haven’t either, but that’s a pretty swanky title, so it might be easy to attribute her generosity to her having a lot of money (I don’t know this, but let’s agree that it’s possible she has a lot of money). But here’s what Debbie’s co-workers said about her when they were interviewed. 

“We have always appreciated the loving spirit of Debbie Bolton.” 

“She’s kind, caring and generous. That’s why none of us was a bit surprised when we saw the recent post on social media about her generosity.”

“I was not surprised. There is not just some ‘glamazon’ or ‘egomaniac’ heading this company; there is a humble person who really cares about people.” 

“This story depicts the kind person that Debbie Bolton is. She is incredibly kind, giving, genuine, and so humble. She leads by example and is walking her talk, every single day. We need more Debbie Bolton’s in the world.” 

So, maybe Bolton did this because $749 just isn’t all that money to her. But I doubt it based on what people say about her. One note is that Bolton worked alongside Mother Theresa when she was nineteen. So, maybe, selflessness is part of her DNA. 

In another, albeit much darker story, I read about a woman named Neerja Bhanot. In 1986, she was a twenty-two year old Pan Am flight attendant. 

On a routine refueling stop in Karachi, four armed men stormed the plan. Their plan was to hijack it but they didn’t know how to fly. So the pilots, at gun point, would fly them. Chaos erupted on the plane at the sight of the gunmen, and in that time. Bhanot found a way to alert the pilots who promptly escaped from a hatch above the cockpit. 

Their plan was foiled. 

For seventeen hours, the terrorists held the passengers hostage. During that time, Bhanot moved throughout the cabin comforting children, steadying panicked passengers, and hiding American passports. 

After dark, the plane lost power, and everything went black. The gunmen, caught off guard, began firing into the cabin. 

Bhanot opened an emergency exit and began ushering people out. She could have gone first. She didn’t. 

She told passengers, “Go. I’ve got you.” 

When three children were afraid to move, Bhanot wrapped her body around them. Bullets tore through the air, aimed directly at those kids. But they were safe because Bhanot took every one of them. 

Because of Bhanot, 359 lives were saved that day. Unfortunately, hers wasn’t one of them. 

The piece ended like this. 

“Heroism isn’t always loud. Sometimes, it’s a young woman standing in the dark, refusing to step into safety, because others haven’t made it there yet.” 

Bolton and Bhanot are the kinds of leaders the world needs right now. Not just in the office, but in life in general. We can all learn from their stories. And maybe, we can all be a little bit more like them.