Wavin’ Dave: What a Man on the Side of the Road Taught Me About Leadership
Every morning, even some rainy mornings, there’s a man standing at the edge of his yard.
The kids call him Wavin’ Dave.
He’s not waiting for a bus. He’s not checking the mail. He’s out there for one reason: to make sure every kid who rides past on their way to school feels seen. Windows roll down. Dave waves both arms like he’s flagging down an old friend, and hollers the same thing every single time:
“Have a great day! I love you!”
His daughter teaches at that school. So in a way, you could say Dave has an excuse to be out there, a reason, a connection, a foot in the door. But watch him for more than a morning and you realize the excuse doesn’t explain it. I am assuming he doesn’t know most of the kids’ names. He’s not doing it for his daughter or himself, but for the benefits of the kids and parents he makes an impact on everyday. He shows up, unless he’s out of town, and even then, you get the sense he’s thinking about who’s going to miss him at the edge of his driveway every morning.
It would be easy to write this off as a sweet, small-town moment. A nice story. A feel-good post to scroll past. But the more I’ve sat with it over the years, the more I think Dave is quietly one of the best leadership teachers most of us will never meet.
He Shows Up When No One Is Checking
Nobody assigned Dave this job. There’s no title, no supervisor, no performance review. He could skip a rainy Tuesday and no one would ever know the difference except the kids who look forward to seeing him every morning, the kids who ask if Wavin’ Dave will be outside today.
That’s the test real leadership has to pass. Not what you do when someone’s watching, but what you do on the mornings when it would be so easy not to. In a firm, that looks like showing up for the case that isn’t glamorous, having the hard conversation nobody scheduled, doing the follow-up call that won’t get noticed by anyone but the client who needed it.
Dave has never missed a day for lack of motivation. Only for lack of location. That’s the standard.
He Leads With Intention, Not Convenience
Dave doesn’t wave because it’s easy. He is often running to keep up with the cars that pass by making sure everyone is seen. He waves because he decided it matters. There’s a difference between things we do when they’re convenient and things we do because we’re called to them and Dave has clearly chosen the second.
That’s what real leadership is. It isn’t reactive. It isn’t “I’ll show up if today goes smoothly.” It’s a decision made once, in advance, that gets honored every single day after including the ones that are pouring rain, both literally and figuratively.
When it’s raining problems at your firm, whether it be a lost account, a staffing gap, a partner meeting that went sideways, the leaders who matter most are the ones who still show up, still lead with the same energy and intention they’d bring on the easiest day of the year. Not because it’s convenient. Because they decided a long time ago that this is who they are.
He Shows Up for the Whole Story, Not Just the Highlight Reel
Dave’s waving isn’t a one-time gesture. It’s a relationship that plays out over years. His daughter teaches at that school, sure but the kids he waves at aren’t her students specifically, they’re everyone who happens to ride by. He goes to school events. He donates his time at the school gala. And when the seniors graduate, they don’t forget him, they pull the school travel bus right into his yard so they can say goodbye to the man who waved at them every morning since they were small.
Think about that for a second. Grown, graduating seniors, taking the time to loop a bus into someone’s front yard just to say thank you.
That’s not the result of one big gesture. That’s the compound interest of showing up, consistently, for years, without ever asking for credit.
Leadership works the same way. It’s not the all-hands meeting where you say the right thing once. It’s the years of small, consistent moments, the check-ins, the follow-through, the way you treat people when there’s nothing in it for you that people remember and repay with loyalty when it counts.
The Leadership Lesson
Here’s what Dave teaches, whether he knows it or not:
You don’t need a title to lead. He’s not the principal. He’s not on staff. He just decided that this was his to do, and he did it.
Leadership is a daily decision, not a mood. He doesn’t wait to feel inspired. He shows up, and the showing up creates the impact.
Small, consistent acts build something bigger than any single grand gesture ever could. A wave costs him nothing but time. Over years, it built a bond strong enough to bring a school bus into his front yard.
Real leadership doesn’t stop when things get hard. Rain doesn’t cancel Dave. Problems shouldn’t cancel you.
Whether you’re leading a law firm, a team, or just your own morning routine, the question isn’t whether you have the title to justify showing up. The question is whether you’ve decided, the way Dave did, that this is worth doing every day, rain or shine, because someone out there is counting on you to be in your spot when they pass by.
So the next time it’s raining problems at your firm, think about Dave standing in his yard with both arms in the air. Then go be somebody’s Wavin’ Dave.
