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Benefits of Crisis in Leadership and Life
A key principle of effective leadership can be derived from an understanding of coal and diamond, which are products of the same material, Carbon. However, two crucial factors are responsible for the differences between coal and diamond:
Time and Pressure !
Unlike coal, a diamond is the result of very intense pressure applied over a considerable amount of time, which causes the carbon components to develop qualities that make it shine, sparkle and become extremely durable and valuable.
In the same way, diamond-class leadership in business and in life is developed and refined in the crucible of economic crises and social / societal pressure and over a long time.
Therefore the current environment of intense economic, social, religious and political pressure all around the world is a magnificent period for the development and release of the diamond-class leadership within you.
The world is in dire need of effective leaders at all levels in families, businesses, churches, local communities and nations. Crisis is the test of effective personal and corporate leadership.
First of all, a simple definition of a crisis is 'an un-managed change event'; therefore your assessment of any situation as a crisis is a direct expression of your perceived capacity or otherwise, to manage that change event effectively.
There are significant benefits to you if you will choose to harness the power of crisis and use it as a platform for exploring and expanding your leadership capabilities. Some of the benefits of a crisis include:
1. Crisis tests your vision
According to business statistics, almost 95 percent of businesses in the United Kingdom, America and other developed economies end in failure. In the U.K, most of these businesses fail in the first five years. These are the ones who gave up on their vision when the going got tough. When a crisis arose, they threw in the towel.
A crisis is an opportunity to evaluate your commitment as a leader to the vision of your business or any other important area of your life. Or it may be the clarion call to develop and refine a long-term vision.
A robust long-term vision enables you to put crises into proper perspective. A diamond-class class leader sees crises as a temporary anomaly that will yield to his or her 'never-give-up' attitude.
In regard to relationships, crises also reveal the strength of your friendships, business associations or other connections. True friends are those who emerge with you from the swirling dust of temporary failure, problems or crises, still committed to you and cheering you on to victory.
2. Crisis exposes your weaknesses
Good, fortuitous times tend to mask the weaknesses in our businesses, communities or nations. For example, surges in petroleum oil prices once again dramatically exposed the strategic weaknesses in the economies of many western nations through their dependence on foreign oil.
Rather than bemoan this dependence as many have done in the past, President Barack Obama has turned it into a motivator for American energy independence within ten years.
In African nations that are getting excited about oil finds, the recurrent spike in petroleum prices appears to be a bonus, which unfortunately is blinding them to a powerful trend, the simple truth that the rest of the world is actively pursuing the goal of rendering this product obsolete through innovative technologies and other sources of power generation.
As a diamond-class leader and business owner, the prevailing global economic crisis provides you with an excellent opportunity to objectively appraise your business weaknesses, evaluate the emerging trends, understand your personal resilience and your strategic options. Then do something about what you find out.
3. Crisis opens doors for the deployment of your unique capabilities
You have unique gifts, talents or abilities which you may have ignored or which may have been ignored by those around you. You might have creative marketing skills or product development strengths that could generate significant business growth but which have been lying dormant. However when a crisis erupts, it often creates the opportunity to shine a bright spotlight on your distinctive capabilities which had previously been ignored.
Be sensitive to these opportunities and allow your diamond qualities to come to the fore.
When these opportunities arise, ask yourself key questions such as:
a) What creative approach can I deploy in solving this issue?
b) What solution resides inside of me as the answer to this business, community, national or global question?
Then explore avenues to contribute your creativity and innovation to the resolution of the challenges.
4. Crisis forces you to confront and refine your paradigms
A wise man once said, "As a man thinks in his heart (i.e. his subconscious mind), so is he." This emphasises that you live according to your assumptions and convictions about life and living effectively what we call your 'world view.'
Crisis, however, forces you to confront the deficiencies of your thinking. Therefore as an effective, diamond-class leader, such a confrontation should result in a refinement of your assumptions, leading to a healthy paradigm shift.
For example, the coalition leaders involved in the military intervention in Afghanistan assumed that toppling the Taliban would bring immediate positive results and create a democratic nation quickly. The euphoria of the first few months soon wore off as the insurgency began.
The resulting crisis for American and British forces have therefore forced the leaders to reappraise their assumptions. Consequently, the strategy for dealing with the Afghan question has had to be revised and now peace talks with the erstwhile enemy are being proposed.
Similarly, what assumptions are you making concerning your business, job, relationships or other arena of life? Do the results so far support your assumptions?
If not, a diamond-class leader does not live in self-denial. Revise your paradigm, make a new set of choices and then move forward.
Conclusion
As a diamond-class leader, it is crucial to understand that crisis is not your enemy. Pain is evidence that new thinking or a new approach is required.
Every crisis re-introduces you to yourself, your core values and requests a reassessment of your vision and your capabilities. Your mandate is to use these crises and the application of the above principles as part of your development.
This will in turn equip you with a greater sense of confidence, a more refined and durable skill-set and a dynamism that makes you more valuable to your business, community, national or global context.
Crisis therefore allows you to sparkle as a diamond-class leader.
Will you rise to the challenge?
