The Best Leaders Are Resilient
Leaders must possess many qualities to succeed, but the one quality that has surfaced to the top these past two years is resilience. The best leaders are resilient, no doubt. Without resilience, today’s leaders will not survive. The word “resilience” means “the ability of a person to adjust to or recover readily from illness, adversity, or major life changes.” And, for an organization, it means “the ability of a system or organization to respond to or recover readily from a crisis or disruptive process.”
After living through a global pandemic for two years, we have a “new normal.” And it’s called uncertainty. The old saying that “the only thing that is certain is change” could now be re-written to say, “the only thing that is certain—or uncertain—is change.” What does this all mean?
Whenever there is change in our lives, we must adapt—and quickly—both at the personal level as well as the business level. As a leader, you are responsible for leading yourself and others through difficult times. This means you need to make decisions with little information available which could change tomorrow. This means that you don’t know how the markets will perform, if your employees will stay loyal to you and your company, or if your customers will continue to choose you to do business with.
But be of good cheer, in uncertainty and in difficult times, there are always opportunities to improve personally and at the corporate level. And you, as the leader, must find them—both in your personal life as well as for the company you lead.
Below are some encouraging tips to help you stay focused on the opportunities the New Year brings:
Grow Your Emotional Intelligence Quotient.
If you’ve never taken an E.Q. assessment, I encourage you to do so this year. You will discover behaviors that you can change to improve your E.Q. Emotional Intelligence addresses two key areas: 1) Personal Awareness of your own emotions: recognizing what emotions you’re feeling, and why, and managing your emotions. 2) Social Awareness – the emotions of others: recognizing what emotions the other person is feeling and adjusting your behavior to improve your relationships. The best leaders are resilient which comes from a high E.Q.
Pursue New Business Opportunities.
Pause and reflect on your existing business and brainstorm with your leadership team for new business opportunities. Differentiate the ideas versus the real growth opportunities. Prepare, research, and prioritize the real opportunities and pursue one during next year.
Enlarge Your Network.
Leaders know people and are natural connectors of people. Leaders have a large network of friends and business colleagues. Whether you are an introvert (you draw your energy from being alone) or an extrovert (you draw your energy from others) doesn’t matter. You can network one-on-one or in a small group. For example, you can expand your professional network on LinkedIn by sending people you’re interested in connecting a simple, friendly invite. Most people are willing to accept your invitation.
Be Kind and Respectful of Others.
Our country is divided on so many levels that we don’t know what to say because regardless of what we say on sensitive issues, we may offend someone. People are walking around wounded and scared of sharing their opinion. Let’s be kind to one another and remember that respect and kindness go a long way in building relationships.
Increase Resiliency.
Equally important is to continue increasing your own resiliency as a leader. Uncertainty will continue in almost every area of our lives. Strengthening your faith will help you stay strong and stand on a solid foundation. Then the rest of the world can change but you’ll still be standing. The best leaders are resilient so if you want to become one, you must develop this skill.
I hope these tips will help you start your year with a positive mindset that will carry you through the New Year. I wish you all the best and that you become even a more resilient leader yet.
Happy New Year!