“Leadership
is cultivated in the garden of adversity.”
I think I coined that phrase today.
I googled it and nothing like it came up in my search….sooooooo, I guess
it’s mine. I’ve been thinking a lot
about change, leadership, adversity, and other topics the last week. I know what leadership is. Leadership is about influence and
relationships and differs from management in the fact that management is about
control. People who desire to be leaders
drift into management when they feel they have to control everything about
everything. I’ve worked alongside some
of those…I’ve been that person in my life.
Adversity is
a fact of life. Everyone knows that
adversity will find them at some point or another. It’s how we handle those times of adversity
that reveals our leadership level. When
under pressure do we slide into a more management role, start to control those
things we can, and worry about the things we can’t? Do we allow things to continue to spiral out
of control? Or do we lead from the
front? Do we allow what we have learned
as a leader shine through?
Everything
we face can be divided into three categories:
1. Things within my power to change
2. Things within my power to influence
3. Things outside my power to change
Take out
number three. No sense worrying about
things you cannot change, regardless of what it is. That’s not to say that we should put our
heads in the sand and not keep those things in the back of our minds. These categories are fluid. Things that are outside of our control
sometimes move into our realm of influence and even into the realm of going
within your power to change.
Influence
those situations and people with whom you can.
You can’t control them, but you can influence them in certain ways. How we react to those people or situations
show us how we grow as a leader.
Change those
things you can. If you have direct
responsibilities in a certain area, you can affect change in those areas. Don’t change things for change’s sake, but do
look for areas of opportunity to get better, to make you better, to make your
team better. Set goals for change and
then work to meet those goals.
The biggest
area of opportunity lies within us. We
have the power to change us. Read,
learn, have conversations, all for the express purpose of growing yourself and
your leadership potential. Even what I
call “trash reading,” reading that has nothing to do with your vocation or
personal growth (reading for fun), can be used to glean truth.
When
adversity comes your way, ask yourself three questions before you act:
1. Is this within my power to change? If it is, set goals to change it.
2. Is this within my power to influence but not
change right away? If it is, begin to
influence in ways you can.
3. Is this outside my power to change? If it is, monitor the situation. It may never move up the scale to be a
situation you can change, but it might.
Be open to
feedback. Ask those you trust, and those
who have leadership over you to give you areas of opportunity to grow yourself.
When
adversity comes act, don’t react. Work
through it, and you will see your leadership potential grow.