This week’s blog is the second in the latest series, My Obscure Role Models.  Each week I will be focusing on a lesser known character from various TV shows and movies that has become a role model to me.  Today’s Obscure Role Model comes from quite possibly the greatest movie ever made…Roadhouse!  And the name is…Wade Garrett.

A brief summary for those of you who haven’t seen it.  First of all, shame on you.  Secondly, this is a story about a bouncer named Dalton (who everyone thought would be bigger), played by People Magazine’s 1991 Sexiest Man Alive, Patrick Swayze.  Dalton is hired to clean up a dive bar called the Double Deuce.  He does his job well, but soon runs into trouble with the main villain, Brad Wesley.  Wesley is rich and powerful and does everything he can to make life miserable for Dalton.

One day Dalton calls up another bouncer and good friend, Wade Garrett, played by Sam Elliott (who I want to be like when I grow up).  He asks Wade, who is working at an equally sleazy bar a few states away, to see if he knows anything about this Brad Wesley character.  This is a leadership lesson by itself.  Great leaders have inner circles of friends and colleagues that they know and trust and with whom they share helpful information.  This is exactly what Dalton was doing.

As it turns out, Garrett had never heard of Brad Wesley and couldn’t offer any help over the phone.  Fast forward to a few days later and the Double Deuce is receiving their liquor supply.  But it’s not just the delivery guys that show up.  Brad Wesley sends his goons over to stop this transaction from taking place and severely beat down anyone who tries to stop them.  This goon squad (which every 80s movie bad guy seemed to have on his payroll) is led by none other than pro wrestling great, Terry Funk.  Terry and his three thugs are just too much for Dalton to handle and they proceed to beat him down as they smash the liquor bottles.

Well guess who shows up to save the day?  Yep…Wade Garrett!  Wade takes out the entire cadre of baddies and saves Dalton’s butt.  Then he throws out a few cool 80s catch phrases and goes inside to have a beer.  And this is what makes Wade Garrett my role model!  Not the fact that he is a better fighter than I will ever be.  Not that he has impeccable timing with his one-liners.  Not that he just comes across as the coolest man on the planet.  He’s this week’s Obscure Role Model…because he showed up.

During his and Dalton’s phone call, he was never asked to come help.  Dalton never told him the situation was too big for one person to handle.  No favors were called in.  But Wade Garrett still dropped what he was doing and traveled to the Double Deuce to find his friend, Dalton.  This is what great leaders do.  They read between the lines.  They hear what’s not being spoken.  They use their sixth sense to know when they’re needed.  It’s a hard skill to develop, but it can be honed over time.  And nothing helps cultivate this skill more than experience.

I encourage you to start to be aware of this trait.  Try listening to tone instead of words.  Study body language.  Effective communication is 55% body language and 38% tone.  That leaves a whopping 7% left over for the actual words we use. Our dialogue is the least effective part of our communication.

Once we learn to hear what’s not being said, we can more effectively empty our cups into others’ lives.  We can help where help is needed.  Maybe not asked for, but needed.  And one day, if we’re lucky, possibly be compared to the Wade Garrett!