“This Summer, She’ll Drive. But First...”

Leadership behind the wheel — and one big pet peeve.

Author

Ed Clementi
June 30, 2025

I was driving alone earlier this week. Just a long stretch of road and my thoughts — the kind of space where ideas connect in ways they normally don’t when life is moving fast.

A few days earlier, my youngest daughter — newly 16 — had brought something up to me in passing.

“Dad, I want to get a lot of practice driving this summer.”

It hit me gently… and then deeply.

There’s a certain shift that happens when your child says something like that. You feel the pride, of course. But also the weight of it. The sense that there’s something important to teach — something that has nothing to do with which pedal is which.

So while I was on that drive, I started thinking:

How do I really prepare her?
What do I want her to carry — beyond the mechanics — as she learns to take the wheel?

Driving is more than driving.

Over the years, I’ve taught many people how to drive. I’ve done the whole drill: wide-open parking lots, quiet side streets, slow merges onto highways.

But this time felt different. Not because the responsibility was greater — but because I found myself thinking differently.

Less about the mechanics, and more about how to convey the mindset behind the wheel — the awareness, the accountability, the seriousness of what it really means to drive.

Driving, I realized, is leadership in motion.

When you drive, you're responsible not just for yourself… but for others.

The ones in your car.
The ones on the road with you.
The ones you may never see — but whose lives are impacted by the choices you make behind the wheel.

It’s not unlike leadership in everyday life.

A few things started clicking into place:

✅ Use your signals.
It’s a simple act of courtesy — but also one of clarity.
You're telling the world around you what you intend to do. You’re giving people a heads up. You’re allowing others to respond and adjust. When people don’t do this — when they change lanes without signaling or turn without warning — it’s not just annoying. It’s dangerous. (and one of my biggest pet peeves!)
Same with leadership. You can’t leave people guessing.

✅ Drive at a calm, controlled pace.
That doesn’t mean slow. It means measured. Intentional.
Not every moment on the road is urgent — and trying to treat it that way usually causes problems.
Leaders who can regulate their speed — who know when to press forward and when to slow things down — are the ones others feel safe following.

✅ Pay attention.
To what’s ahead.
To what’s beside you.
To what’s happening behind you.

Awareness keeps you (and others) out of trouble — and it’s not passive. It’s a skill. A muscle you build.

✅ React appropriately.
You can’t control what other people will do — someone might cut you off, swerve, brake too hard.
But you can control how you respond. And you can prepare for it by staying alert.
That’s true on the road — and in teams, in families, in life.

✅ Take responsibility.
When you’re driving, it’s not about blame. It’s about awareness. It’s about making adjustments before things go wrong. And if they do, it’s about owning the moment and doing what’s right — not what’s easy.

I thought about how I learned.

My father and I didn’t always see eye to eye. We had our differences, like many fathers and sons do. But when it came to the road — he knew what he was doing.

He drove a car service in our neighborhood for over 40 years, and he was known for it. Not just because he was reliable, but because people felt safe with him. He had a calmness. A steadiness. And I watched it closely — probably more than he realized.

He taught me how to drive. And the lessons stuck.
They’ve kept me — and my family — safe for decades.

If I regret anything, it’s that I didn’t tell him that before it was too late.

Sidenote: If you’re reading this and someone comes to mind — say the thing.
You’ll never regret saying it. You might regret not.

I’ll teach my daughter this summer.

She’ll learn about blind spots, braking distances, lane changes, and merging.
But more than anything, I hope she sees that driving, like life, requires more than ability. It demands intention, awareness, and the willingness to take responsibility for more than just yourself.

Because that’s what driving and leading really is.

And maybe — just maybe — this will stick with her the way it did with me.

Your Turn

The next time someone says “Leadership’s not for me…”
…maybe remind them they already lead more than they think.

Sometimes it starts with something as simple as a turn signal.

With Absolute Sincerity,

Ed Clementi, Founder & CEO of Inspired Fire, LLC

Make an Impact and Feel an Impact.