Leaders Confront What Others Avoid

Every great leader shares the characteristic of stepping forward and facing issues and situations that others are either fearful or anxious of addressing. One cannot be considered a real leader unless he fully commits to doing whatever is necessary to provide the greatest value and service to the organization that he has been selected or elected to serve as a leader. John Kenneth Galbraith stated, "All of the great leaders have one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership." While I do not fully agree that this and not much else are the essence, I agree that leaders must step forward and lead by example, having the courage and foresight to speak out and act on issues that all too often, others shy away from. Perhaps the reason others avoid certain issues are fear, lack of self - confidence, lack of preparedness, weakness, anxiety, or a need to feel popular, but a true leader understands that he must step outside his personal comfort zone in order to lead.

1. One of the greatest anxieties facing leadership are the financial implications or fiscal responsibilities/ needs involved with optimizing an organization's performance, relevance and sustainability. In my over three decades of close work with well over a thousand leaders, I have come to believe that perhaps the greatest enemy of quality leadership is running away from difficulties (or procrastinating), in order to avoid making a mistake or being blamed. The reality is that blame has no part in leadership, for it is not constructive, useful or desirable. Blame is not motivating, and never solves or resolves a challenge. It is far more constructive to analyze situations, understand issues and needs, and look at the relationship between taking action to address short term needs, while not adversely impacting the bigger picture, which must be the long term meaningfulness of the organization.

2. Panic leadership is even worse than aimless leadership. Leaders who tend to be myopic (that is, see only the immediate challenge, which they invariably view as a problem) often so poorly overreact that they create more extreme long term obstacles. Great leaders, on the other hand, confront the issues that others are most anxious about, with a plan, goals, and an eye on the future. One can not be a true leader without a combination of self - confidence, inner strength and fortitude, a vision, courage to act, and the willingness to expand their own comfort zone as widely as necessary.

Each of us have things that we prefer to do, and things we'd rather avoid. The difference is that a leader does those things he doesn't like to do, because they need to be addressed and done.