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"I Just Hopped On There": What a Store Clerk and a Runaway School Bus Teach Leaders About Stepping In

Today’s story doesn’t have a chief in it. Or a sergeant. Or anybody with a title. Which might be why I like it so much.

What happened

On Monday afternoon, October 19, Ebro Ahmed was standing outside Ya Bricks Snacks and Tobacco on the east side of St. Paul, Minnesota, when a school bus rolled by with its door wide open, according to CBS Minnesota/WCCO and ABC News.

Ahmed, a 27-year-old store clerk, looked inside and saw the driver having what looked to be a seizure, he told ABC News. Nineteen students from Battle Creek Middle School were on board, a St. Paul Public Schools spokesperson told WCCO.

“So then I ran towards the bus and noticed he was having an emergency so I just hopped on there,” Ahmed told WCCO. Stopping it wasn’t simple. He tried to throw it in park, and it went into reverse. He kept at it and got the bus stopped, pulling the emergency brake, according to ABC News.

Then he turned around. “Some [kids] were screaming. Some [were] calm. These two girls on the front really did help me a lot. I threw my phone and my glasses at one of them and I told her to hold it,” he told ABC News.

The district said paramedics responded, no injuries were reported, the students finished their trip home on another bus, and counselors checked in with them the next day. The driver was released from the hospital and is resting at home. A few days later, a community member surprised Ahmed with a $1,000 check.

How did he stay calm? He credited “Grey’s Anatomy,” because the doctors on the show stay calm in chaos. All my TV ever taught me was how to fall asleep on the couch.

So what does a store clerk jumping onto a moving school bus tell us about leadership? Turns out, quite a bit.

Leadership shows up in the gap

There is always a stretch of time between when something goes wrong and when somebody with rank arrives. Ahmed wasn’t in charge, and he didn’t wait to be. The problem was his because he was the one standing there.

Rank tells you who is responsible on paper. The gap tells you who actually leads.

Give scared people a job

“Hold my phone and my glasses” sounds like nothing. But a task gives a frightened person something to do with their fear. It turns panic into purpose.

I’ve watched good supervisors do the same thing at chaotic scenes over my career: assignment first, explanation later. You take the door. You call it in. You stay with her. People settle down when they know what is theirs.

Calm is a skill, and you can borrow it

Ahmed picked up composure by watching people who had it, even fictional ones. That works in both directions. Somebody on your team is watching how you handle pressure right now, including the new hire who hasn’t found the coffee yet. Somebody is learning calm from you. Or learning the opposite.

Whether people step in is a culture question

Here’s the part I keep thinking about as a chief. Ahmed stepped in on his own. Inside our organizations, whether people step in usually isn’t about personality. It’s about what they’ve seen happen to the last person who did.

If the last officer who took initiative got second-guessed in front of everybody, the next one waits. If people have watched leaders back someone who acted in good faith, even when it wasn’t perfect, they’ll move.

A few things leaders can do:

• Support the person who tried. Coach the details later, in private.
• Don’t punish the honest mistake made while trying to help. Do it once, and you’ll get exactly what you asked for: everyone waiting for a supervisor. That works great until the supervisor is the one having the bad day.
• Recognize it out loud. People repeat what gets noticed.
• Give permission and small reps before the big moment. Train people, let them make the smaller calls, and tell them plainly: if you see it, you own it, and I’ve got your back.

Rank is earned. Leadership is demonstrated.

Ebro Ahmed had no rank, no badge and no title that afternoon. Nineteen kids got home safe because he led anyway.

So here’s the question for your next shift: when the gap opens up in front of you, will you wait for somebody with stripes, or will you step in? And if you lead people, do they believe you’ll back them when they do?

Sources: CBS Minnesota/WCCO, ABC News.