What a Sexist 70-Year-Old Truck Driver Taught Me About Coaching

Yesterday, I spent half my drive to the office stuck at a snail's pace on the highway.

I was the 11th car in line behind the slowest truck driver on the Northwest coast of Tasmania.

His name is Rabie (rhymes with baby).

Rabie hauls cattle for a living 🚚🐄.

He's a 70-something year old who looks and sounds like he's 90.

Not just because he smokes a pack a day.

But because his attitude towards women is extremely 1950s.

When he comes by the farm to cart cows to a lease block (because, fun fact: cows don't spend their WHOLE life on the dairy farm. They have some holidays away from the dairy when they're not being milked)...he's been known to pop his head in and ask my mother in law if she has any scones.

No, that's not a strange euphemism.

It's not a cheeky 'joke'.

He genuinely believes that part of a woman's role in life is having freshly-baked goods available for the hard-working men around her.

You don't know my mother-in-law, but I guarantee you her response to such a assumption would be the look of raised eyebrows, and repetitive blinks of attempting to comprehend the audacity...

This is all to say:

Rabie is NOT the kind of person I'd EVER choose to share a meal or have a conversation with.

But I tell ya what...

If you want to get your cows to a different farm, and you want them to ALL arrive at their new location in the same level of health and wellbeing as when they left... you'll wanna be giving a Rabie a call.

Because when Rabie moves stock, he drives like his cargo matters.

He'll sit at 30 clicks beneath the highway speed limit, oblivious or uncaring towards the bank of 40 vehicles behind him...

Because when he arrives at the final destination, you can bet that every one of those cows will be walking off.

Not a soul will be left behind in the truck, having fallen down from going around a corner too fast.

There'll be no lame cows getting about with cuts and bruises amidst their new surrounds.

Rabie is the guy you call when you want to work with someone who cares as much about your cows almost as much as you do.

It makes all the difference when you work with someone who's not just 'going through the motions', but genuinely cares.

I know you already know that to be true.

You know a big part of your coaching is that you give many fucks about your clients.

Being their coach isn't just about you 'putting in the hours'.

You see them.

You understand them.

You hold a level of belief and certainty about what they're capable of creating that they might not even believe to be possible yet.

So...what's one simple way you can reflect, tell or SHOW this to your best-fit clients today?

Go and do that. And let it be simple.