Thomas Edison once wrote about being courageous. He went on to say about how businesses have always seen depressions and still powerful countries like America have come out of these turbulent times in a better way all the time. For all those of us seeking inspiration and motivation to lead our teams, these words from the great master should be quite enough. They could be what we want to forge our teams into a brilliant force that momentously goes ahead and achieves things that are set in front of them.
In today's economic climate, it takes courage to be a leader. There are tough decisions to be made, some of which will affect the lives of those who look up to you as a leader. Staff cuts and service cuts affect not only those who work in the team, but the customer base that rely on your company for service and products.
How do you face your role with courage that will help your company deal with the hard times, but potentially be in the best possible place to take courage and become stronger and prosperous and take your company forward not backward?
There are steps you can take to be that courageous leader and although there is no guarantee your company will not feel the effects of the economic downturn, you can have a major influence on the culture of hope that can permeate your business dealings.
Maintaining a vision and a plan of how to reach your destination is the first step to having a courageous heart; this is closely followed by believing in your vision despite what is happening around you. Theodore Hesburgh wrote that the main essence of good leadership is to be equipped with the right vision.
Without a vision, there is no direction and with direction, people hit nothing and aim nowhere. Many company cultures have this problem. Survival is the focus and when leaders are focused on survival, they can easily lose their vision.
The word for courage in French means "heart and spirit". When heart and spirit are combined with a focused vision, there is a greater potential for success. Aristotle once said that courage makes all the other virtues possible. A leader with courage is a force that will transform the organizational culture of the business and be the drive behind a work place that is filled with people who are equally courageous in their own sphere of influence.
No comments:
Post a Comment