You’ve probably†heard of Dave Carrol’s frustrating experiences with United Airlines and his guitar through the enormous reach of YouTube and Huffington Post.† But an interesting lesson we can all draw from this story is the idea that our attitude to events shapes them – and us.

The Backstory: Dave Carroll and his band had a gig in Nebraska.† While deplaning in Chicago,†he was shocked to see his $3,500 Taylor guitar being hurled around by baggage handlers. †The guitar was broken and although United did not deny responsibility,†Carroll ended up in a beauracratic bog created by United staff who kept blowing him off,†eventually refusing compensation.†† An exasperated Carroll promised the last person to deny him†compensation (Ms. Irlweg) that he would turn the experience into a video learning opportunity. After the YouTube video he produced raced†across the Internet, United was shamed into offering compensation.† But by then events had moved on and Carroll politely declined their offer,†inviting them to give the money to a charity of their choice instead.

Much happens in our work and personal lives that is disappointing or irritating. We have choices about how we react. We can vent, whine and moan – even be angry or vengeful. Or we can look for ways to either turn the event into an opportunity or transcend it.† The first choice sucks energy from others and ourselves.† The second inspires. As you can see in Dave Carroll’s second video,†he chose to make lemonade -†developing a second full-blown professional video to capitalize on the success of his first one. †How we feel, how healthy we are, and how inspiring we are as leaders and human beings, will depend on our choice.

Great leaders always make the right choice.