In past issues of the Competitive Edge Report, I discussed many aspects of leadership: Leadership in Times of Chaos, Leadership Advice — Leadership Not Management, and Leadership Lessons from Captain Sullenberger (“Sully”). Recently several of my executive coaching clients have been faced with extraordinary challenges — layoffs, regime changes, downsizing, employer realignment, illness, natural disaster, and now this pandemic.
Helping people survive, strive, thrive and address these life and career-changing issues has made me appreciate the power of personal leadership.
When I speak of personal leadership I am talking about the temperament, ability, and skills, often learned through life experience and leading others. It’s the ability to maneuver within chaos, combat adversity, and move onward and upward despite circumstances and obstacles. These are often unrecognized yet remarkable people.
People with Personal Leadership Share Some Traits in Common
- Ability to see beyond the immediate challenge. They have vision.
- Possess a deep sense of values that regardless of circumstances or the opinions of others never waiver.
- Demonstrate the courage to cut losses early to prevent harm to self or others.
- Identify an escape hatch, an alternate plan, to get them to where they need and want to be.
- Connections with people who care and can offer valuable assistance and support.
- Look forward rather than back. They will check historical data but not allow it to make future choices.
When I look back for my use of personal leadership, I realize courage was essential (though I was not feeling very courageous at the time). Leaving a job that I loved because my boss was verbally abusive was risky. I did not have a position in-hand, nor did I possess the funds to be unemployed. I did have respect for my values and dignity.
Later in my career, I prematurely sold my business because the isolation, inordinate number of hours, and the all-over stress made me ill. The move probably had an impact on ultimate sale price, but my well-being and future had greater value. I cut my losses early and was able to envision my next move, which was returning to my former career by taking advantage of professional connections I had kept alive.
In another instance, two years after earning a coveted buying position in a retail organization, I realized I was better suited managing people than merchandise. This did not go over well with the people who had mentored and advocated for me on the fast track. But, despite the common wisdom, financial risk, and potential for alienation and failure, I made the move. No regrets, in fact one of the best career decisions I ever made. No looking back.
I appreciate many of you are experiencing a multitude of challenges. The lessons I learned and teach work during positive and difficult times. Coaching clients creating a basic vision is one of the first steps. “How do you see your professional life?” “How do you envision your personal life working at its best?” And, “How will they meld together and create what I refer to as your blended life? A blended life is different than a balanced life in that it skews to work or homelife at different times and for different reasons dominating time and energy. It then shifts by demand.
The challenge right now is work and home are both demanding our full attention.
Often when clients are stuck or have an attack of perfection paralysis, they have a conflict in values. Maybe they admire and expect responsibility in themselves and others, so they are pulled between their allegiance to their family and their employer. Or they aspire to success but society places high value on earning money. How do they reconcile when choosing a profession, such as teaching, where financial rewards are limited? Personal leadership assists them in addressing that conflict.
Great leaders respect, verbalize, and demonstrate their values in all parts of their lives because they practice personal leadership privately and publicly.
In this volatile world, everyone, yes everyone, is expendable. It is the naïve executive who has not assessed with an objective eye the climate in their organization, industry, location, and the world. It is the foolish professional who does not know where the emergency exits are. Keep in mind, “the nearest exit may be behind you.” In coaching sessions, we are always looking for alternatives and options — they exist if you know how to look and are willing to accept.
People who have the best connections weather storms best. They have ties to family and friends, colleagues and co-workers, and their community. They belong to professional organizations and personal groups. They are active participants. Their relationships are long-term and sometimes long-distance despite the isolation many jobs create.
These “connectors” are not fearful of running into anyone because they have no enemies and have the knack for staying in touch with everyone. Social media is their conduit. They are never in the position of being embarrassed to call someone because “it has been years.” It rarely has been years, and if it has, they still make the call.
People with excellent personal leadership skills know they cannot function in a vacuum and pump oxygen into their contact list, and life, on a regular basis. This dedication helps create what I call your Team 100. This is a list of a least one hundred people, rarely family, who can assist you in some way with your career. It always amazes me how easily some coaching clients can create this list, while other clients may feel they have very limited connections. It is not impossible, just takes commitment and personal leadership.
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