Leading When Times are Hard
When I look around, read a book, a blog post, or listen to a podcast, most of the time I see positive examples of leadership. You will learn what a leader should do or say, you get directed towards positive examples and easily get inspired by it. In reality, throughout your life, you will stumble upon many poor leaders. Negative examples from which you don't want to take inspiration from. What I had in my mind today is twofold: leaders who are a bad example, and leaders who are seemingly good until things go south.
At a company I worked in the past, I specifically recollect many instances of poor leadership. Believe it or not, it was not intentional. They lacked preparation and wanted to pursue a leading role for ego more than for a mission (while this might sound intentional, you'll have to trust me that they just didn't know any better). This inevitably led to poor decisions, putting people down, and temper tantrums. I count my blessings because I learned a lot from them. I experienced the type of leadership I never wanted to be a part of. That was eye-opening because I could see first-hand how that feels, how it affects people, and eventually how it damages the team.
On the other hand, I also saw what appeared to be great leaders. The team was doing wonders, the company was doing good and the path ahead was exciting and inspiring. Unfortunately, as is the fate of a lot of startups eventually, things didn't look as good anymore. In my humble opinion, that's ok. We can't expect to be on top of the world every day. What this revealed though was that leadership at the time was not equipped for these scenarios. It was a continuous struggle and not a good one. That's when it hit me the most. I realized that any leader is great when things go well, true leaders keep shining even when things break. That for me was a source of inspiration for the type of leader I try to be. One my team can rely on even when things are not so great.
Thoughts
Today I just dusted off some memories that I found valuable to share and think about. Principles of leadership that are not often highlighted enough. The first was drawing examples from leaders around you that you do NOT want to follow. Let their failures be a learning opportunity. But also look around very closely when things are not great, does your leadership handle it well? If so, take notes! You can certainly learn this from other sources, but nothing beats real-life experience.