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My new senior patrol leader and I were talking at a bridge crossing ceremony. He is about two or three meetings into his term a the leader of his troop of 45 Scouts.
Like all of his predecessors he’s been caught in the headlights of the unexpected. He seemed to be totally stunned by the opening of his first troop meeting, something he has been through many times, and stood paralyzed for a few long seconds until a fellow Scout quietly suggested that he may want to lead the pledge of allegiance.
His March camping trip plans dissolved when only five or six Scouts signed up to attend.
I told him planning is important but so is responding to the unexpected. He agreed.
“You have to expect the unexpected” he said
He is a capable, mature, intelligent young man chosen by his fellow Scouts from a field of five candidates for the position. That he appreciates leadership is the art of the unexpected is strong evidence that his fellow Scouts made the right decision.
To me, the second most satisfying thing in Scouting — after seeing a scared little 11 year-old metamorphize into a confident 17 year-old Eagle — is watching a terrified new Senior Patrol Leader running his first troop meeting turn into, less than a year later, a self-assured SPL handling a similar meeting with both humor and a firm hand. If companies out there knew where many of their best managers came from, they’d be writing thank you notes to the Boy Scouts of America.