The year was 1995 or 1996. Kayla and I had been married a few years. Both of us worked for New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. She served in the Seminary’s preschool while I served at their Christian radio station, WBSN. We had recently moved on campus into a two-bedroom apartment.

We had been in this new apartment a few weeks when I heard Kayla shriek from the back bedroom. I made my way to where she was and she’s pointing a corner. All she could say is, “Bug. Big bug. Very big bug.” You need to understand that New Orleans is famous for its bugs. The city has cockroaches that can reach the size of a small chihuahua. (Okay, that’s an overreach but they do get rather large!) The region is also known for termite swarms. That’s always a fun season. Finally, due to the tropical nature of the city you’ll find spiders. Let’s get back to the shriek from Mrs. Kayla.

She’s pointing at this corner and just keeps saying, “Bug. Big bug. Very big bug.” In that corner was a table with a television on it, not the easiest thing to move. (This is before flat screens.) I walked to the corner, peeked over the television and then I saw it. It was a spider the size of my hand. I must confess I love Jesus, but I cuss a little. That evening, when I saw this spider I said a little word.

Kayla jumps on the bed and says, “What is it? Is it a rat? Please tell me it’s not a rat.” As calmly as I could I replied, “It’s not a rat. But it’s a spider and it’s the size of a mouse.”

Now I must figure out how to kill this thing. My wife is on the bed and won’t step on the floor until this enemy invader is terminated. I can’t move the table and TV due to the size and weight. I ask, “Any idea if we have bug killer in the house?” We don’t. But what did we have? Hairspray. We had a can of aqua net hairspray. That’s all I had. In that moment I hoped that hairspray would kill this critter that had emerged victorious from a fight with Godzilla.

I shook the hairspray and began to spray the spider. It never moved. I sprayed so much hairspray that my finger grew sore from holding down the button. Finally, the can of hairspray was empty. Yep, I burned through a whole can of hairspray on this beast.

She asked, “Is it dead? Did you kill it?”

Trying to ascertain the status of Aragog (for all the Harry Potter fans) I replied, “I don’t know if he’s dead or just glued in place due to all the hairspray.”

I put the lid back on the can and said, “Here goes nothing.” Using the can, I quickly crushed the spider with it. A massive crunch could be heard by neighbors four apartments down from us (again a little more exaggeration.) With the king of all spiders’ dead, Kayla felt safe enough to walk on the floors again. Thankfully, we never saw another spider like that.

There’s a leadership lesson in this story. Have the right tools for the project. We didn’t have bug killer. We had a broom but didn’t want to chase this thing all over the house. We weren’t equipped to handle the situation.

Give your team what they need to accomplish what is in front of them. The minute they begin to improvise you’ll lose time and quality. Having the right tools will help build the confidence of your team. Your team can focus on quality and satisfying the customer instead of worrying how to complete the assignment.

Consider what your team is facing. Equip them with what is needed. Don’t have them fighting spiders with a can of hairspray.

Leadership Matters,

Brian