The Luggage Lesson: Why Great Leaders Use a Light Touch

I have just boarded a plane as I write this, having had one of those simple realizations that changes how I see things (or at least gives me a new metaphor for it). Walking through the terminal earlier, my roller bag started doing that violent side-to-side shimmy, a speed wobble that gets worse the faster you try to go, until you’re forced to stop completely and reset.

And here’s what I realized: I was causing it.

The Tight Grip Problem

I wasn’t even thinking about the bag. My mind was on my gate, my phone, the usual airport distractions. I was just holding the handle the way I naturally hold things: with a firm grip. 

But that unconscious tight grip was transmitting all of my tiny walking variations directly down through the handle, into the frame, and straight to the wheels. My tight grip amplifiing every micro-movement until the whole system becomes unstable. The harder I grip, the worse it gets.

The solution? One finger.

Not gripping at all, just gently guiding with a single finger hooked through the handle. The bag glides smoothly behind me, following my general direction but not copying every tiny movement. No wobble. No drama. Just smooth forward progress.

And that’s when it hit me: this is exactly the case with  great leadership.

The Unconscious Grip Problem

Some leaders “grip” their teams the same way.  Not because they’re consciously trying to micromanage or control everything, but simply because that’s their natural way of engaging—with intensity, with full attention, with that firm hold on everything in their sphere.

Their minds aren’t on controlling the team any more than mine was on controlling the bag. They’re focused on results, on the market, on the next big challenge. But unconsciously, they’re maintaining that tight connection to every process, every decision, every team interaction.

But here’s what actually happens: every fluctuation in the leader’s mood, stress level, or changing priorities gets transmitted directly to the team. The leader’s natural variations (which would be invisible in normal circumstances) become massive organizational disruptions.  Their organization develops its own version of speed wobble: constant pivoting, reactive decision-making, and the inability to maintain steady forward momentum.

The Light Touch Advantage

I’m fortunate to work with leaders who naturally use this approach; perfect examples of this—they definitely point toward the goal, providing clear direction and staying connected to progress, but there’s no destabilizing grip.

They understand that their job isn’t to eliminate all variation in the system—it’s to maintain direction while allowing their team’s natural competence and rhythm to do the work. They lead without creating unnecessary turbulence, and you can feel the difference in how smoothly the organization moves forward.

Think about it: when you use just one finger on that luggage handle, you’re still very much in control. You’re setting the direction, making course corrections when needed, and responding to obstacles. But you’re not amplifying every small input into system-wide chaos.

Three Principles of Light Touch Leadership

1. Guide, Don’t Grip

Stay connected to your team’s progress without trying to control every detail. Set clear expectations and check in regularly, but resist the urge to manage every decision. Your team needs direction, not domination.

2. Trust the System

Good people with clear direction will find their own stable rhythm. Your job is to remove obstacles and provide support, not to compensate for every small variation with a correction of your own.

3. Recognize When You’re Creating the Problem

If your organization is constantly reactive, pivoting wildly, or seems unable to maintain steady progress, ask yourself: are you gripping too tightly? Are your natural leadership variations being amplified into organizational instability?

The Paradox of Control

Here’s the counterintuitive truth: you often gain more control by exercising less control. When you loosen your grip, your team becomes more stable, more resilient, and paradoxically, more responsive to your actual guidance.

The tight-grip leader creates dependency and instability. The light-touch leader creates competence and resilience.

It’s the difference between steering and strangling. Both can keep you moving in the right direction, but only one maintains the stability and efficiency needed for long-term success.

When You Need the Death Grip

I can think of some situations where the opposite is true.  Where you absolutely need that firm grip on the handle.  When you’re rushing down a steep ramp to catch a connecting flight, that light touch isn’t going to cut it. The bag will start rolling faster than you can walk, pulling you forward or veering off course. In that moment, you need control, not glide.

The same applies to leadership. During a genuine crisis—a safety incident, financial emergency, or major system failure—the light touch becomes dangerous. When the building is on fire, you don’t guide people toward the exits; you direct them firmly and quickly. New team members learning critical skills need training wheels, not freedom to find their own rhythm. In highly regulated industries where non-compliance could be catastrophic, some processes require that firm grip.

The key insight isn’t that light touch is always right—it’s knowing when to grip and when to guide, and being able to switch between modes as the situation demands. Even the best luggage sometimes needs a firm hand.

Your Luggage is Telling You Something

The next time you’re traveling, pay attention to how you handle your roller bag. Are you death-gripping the handle, creating wobbles that slow you down? Or are you using just enough contact to provide direction while letting the bag’s design do what it’s meant to do?

Your luggage might just be teaching you something profound about leadership. Because the truth is, most of the time, the speed wobble isn’t coming from the wheels or the floor or the design of the bag. It’s coming from you. And the solution isn’t a tighter grip, it’s learning when to let go.