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Not for a Million Bucks
The notion of leadership
as a worthwhile and satisfying pursuit of excellence is far from reality for most people, especially those on the way up.
Leading means
holding a tremendous sense of responsibility coupled with the feeling, at times, of little return, unless you breakthrough to the big time. Then at least the bucks are what you earn, not the type where you feel thrown off a horse.
The ladder is high
and the climbing arduous, especially with people on your back exerting pressure as well as those expecting to be carried.
Pressure is often a close companion while satisfaction and release are too seldom visitors.
Upon winning
a leadership position idealism may kick in but that soon may wear as the idea that "I was born for this" may transmute to "Now I feel like a new born!" and/or "This looks much harder from here and, how can I look like I know what I am doing while I am working out what I need to know?".
Long term leaders
on the other hand, recognise the pattern and learn to accept the trials and sentences as a natural consequence of ascending the ladder. Knowing this however, does not make the anguish any less real.
Some find
the Leader's title is not the fit in life they are looking for and step willingly off the ladder. However, the ladder appears in other areas of life. It seems we are all leaders for, and influences on someone!
So how
is it that one day you feel on top of the heap and the next you are buried in it? and more to the point... Why doesn't everybody just go away and leave you alone!
Why is it
that brilliant people, who have done all the courses, even perhaps achieved honours and degrees that prepare them for leadership, sometimes falter in the real application?
Why is it
that leaders with high IQ, EQ, SQ and every other Q that may be emerging, still lack satisfaction and feel frustration in not achieving results through others?
Well it might be said
that if said leader had the right resources, a more talented leader to aspire to, more time, more clarity from those above and... the people they manage were up to it, then... then... well then the results would naturally flow.
I wonder
what it is like in your organisation? Will there be a time do you think when the ducks are aligned, when everything is neatly and beautifully placed for you to step in and work your magic?
Perhaps you may think
I am being overtly simplistic in pointing out the obvious, but I notice that many frustrated and brilliant people are thwarted by external circumstances. I am not suggesting these stumbling blocks are not real, or that they do not cause undue pressure, but if you are to be a leader of note, you can and must be sufficiently skilled to respond appropriately and immediately. As "Jewel" says in her song "Deep Water", "We have to demand more, not of each other. But more from ourselves".
Face facts,
it is not that you lack talent, but you must be able to access it when you need it most, when the pressure is on. The thing is that pressure is seldom announced, it creeps up and often grabs you from behind. The smallest thing may throw you off and it is at that moment you need your talent most and it is the most challenging time to access it... there is that horse again! Remember those who learn to do this end up with the big bucks! And of course, others attempt to emulate them and their behaviour.
With Emotional Resilience
you have immediate access to your full range of skill and talent, you can easily reason and achieve new perspective. One where you can see the whole, find the opportunity and work it.
If you think
for a moment about a leader you admire, I suspect one of the main attributes will be their calm under fire, the ability to take control and lead others through any storm. Someone you would get into a lifeboat with as your captain. Are the people who follow you likely to say this about you?
If you know
you can and must be your best, rather than emulate someone else, be the brilliant you, you know, the one that intellectually knows what must be done, how to do it and does it.
To do that
you only need to know how to set the conditions for you to excel, find what causes you constant annoyance and work on alleviating it, ensure you look after yourself in whatever way that is best for you, when you feel frustration coming on, get perspective. It is amazing what you discover about yourself as you relieve the pain of that challenging horse, "Pressure".
Until next time
be emotionally resilient, get to love that horse, "Pressure" and keep getting back on... but if your technique needs tuning you know who to call.
Noelene Dawes
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