We found a lovely cove in the sun and out of the wind. We got to this location in two parties – one  sailing and the other motoring. My son anchored the two boats and we rowed in. Sun was at a premium because it mostly rained in Scotland this summer.

Mid-lunch, someone looked up and saw that the motor boat had slipped its anchor and was drifting out to sea. My son knew it was his mistake and dashed down the beach to row out to the sailing boat, and then sail out to the motor boat and get it. Simple.

What was the leadership lesson? Don’t under-staff a task, especially a rescue task.

We watched from shore for hours, unable to help. We were in a cove out of the wind but there were harsh forces to battle out at sea. The boat drifted fast – faster than I ever would have thought – and fast enough to be halfway to Jura by the time my son eventually caught up with it.

Getting from a sailing boat singlehandedly into a fast drifting motor boat was not easy. Both boats got damaged. At least my son didn’t.

Coming back from summer holiday this story has focused my mind a lot. I – like many leaders – have been pretty exhausted over the last 18 months. It’s lovely to get away and see some things more clearly – to huddle into the cove for a while – but better not to make any important decisions from the cove. They could lack sound judgment.

 In the end we ran out of “things to do in the rain.” We stopped checking the forecast too because we had no hope of change. We bonded, made new friends and learnt new games but after a while a stupor set in.

 I am thankful that my family has grown up so that we were no longer, at least, struggling to cope with cooped up kids and soggy clothes.

 In the rare bright moments we poured out of the house, never a full day without rain but half days sometimes; and we made the most of them.  And they were all the more special.

 So in this blog about leadership, my summer  discovery is that leaders need sun.