Tag:

Perseverance

Blogger’s Block

by Ron Potter August 4, 2022

Writer’s Block

Writer’s block is a real thing. I’ve seen my wife and daughter (who are both writers) go through it, so I’ve seen it firsthand. However, I’ve never experienced blogger’s block before. I’ve always had plenty of things to write about and it seemed like they always came easy when I was ready to begin writing. In fact, I had great difficulty narrowing down the subject that I was going to blog about. However, this one has been different. Part of the reason is that I’ve been so focused on my health conditions lately that no other subjects have been present. But now is the time to break out of that funk. I’m sure that my lack of blogging this week has driven Pete nuts. He is the person who finalizes these blogs and publishes them. Sorry about that Pete. I’ll try to get ahead of things a little bit here.

When I told my wife the other day that I was having difficulty coming up with this blog, she said, “Well, write about the difficulty.”

One Dimensional

My life has become too one-dimensional lately. I need to break out of it before it just consumes me. So:

When people ask how I’m doing, I simply say, “Fair,” and try to leave it at that.
I’ve tried to get out in our neighborhood and do more walking. Yesterday I met two new couples who have moved in during the past several months. It was great talking to them without focusing on my own health issues.
We had some friends visit last week from Florida. They’ve been friends for over 50 years. They wanted to know about my health issues, but I kept it to a minimum and it seemed to satisfy them.

Our Own Issues

We can easily be overcome and overly focused on our own issues. My issues are not going to go away. However, they don’t need to take over my life either. I know I’ve mentioned my dad in earlier blogs. He lost a leg in WWII, but I never heard him complain, and like many of that “silent” generation, I never really heard him talk about his experiences except for a few humorous stories. I know that his health continued to deteriorate, and he passed away at the very young age of 53. In talking with my cousins, they speak of my dad in very positive words about his humor and knowledge. He was an awesome human being and could have easily focused on his health issues but never did.

Enjoy Life

Our lives can become very self-centered for many reasons. Don’t let it. God has a plan for us. It may include difficulties but never includes being without Him. Enjoy the life you have and the people who have been placed around you. It’s a whole lot better than being self-centered.

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Regrets – Boldness

by Ron Potter March 24, 2022

In Daniel Pink’s latest book, The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward, Pink lists four core regrets:

While I haven’t fully read this book yet, it seems like the perfect next sequence after the series of being afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down that I recently wrote from Paul’s ancient text to the people of Corinth.

In this second of Pink’s regrets, Boldness talks about the lack of boldness to “accomplish a few important goals within the limited spat of a single life.” This lack of boldness seems a lot more urgent at age 74 than it did at age 24. That’s not unexpected because of the age difference but it’s important to be aware that accomplishing some things will only happen at a younger age. At some point, it becomes obvious that there is just not enough time to accomplish some things that you had intended to accomplish all of your life. So it’s important to begin those things that you would like to or intend to accomplish in your life when there is still time to accomplish them.

Why Boldness?

It takes boldness to start early because:

It’s difficult to carve out the time to accomplish something out of the ordinary when it seems like your everyday life is overtaking you at the moment.
It also means that we must overcome the fear of failure when we start a new venture early in life.

You might be saying to yourself, “I’ll be more equipped to do something bold when I have a little more experience.” Or you might be thinking, “Once I get through the busy part of my life I’ll have more time to dedicate to that bold idea.”

Looking Back

The subtitle of Pink’s book is “How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward.” This seems evident to me now that I’m in my mid-70s. It’s easy to say that “This is something I might have accomplished 50 years ago.” It’s more difficult to think that I should have started five years ago. There’s still a lot of time left to step out and accomplish that bold idea. After all, if I could accomplish the task in 40 years, I could surely accomplish it in 35 years. This is just an excuse for not stepping out in boldness and pretty soon that 35 years turns into 30 years until it’s too late to accomplish it at all.

I have a grandson who is a world-class bicyclist and I would like to go riding with him. But today that would be impossible. And yet, I’ve seen some 70-year-olds who could at least stay with him for a while. The difference is they started when they were young. They didn’t put it off.

Moving Forward

Plan. Start. You want to be better athletically, pick your sport and start today. You want to be better at chess, start today. You want to be healthier, start today. Whatever it is, start today. Don’t put it off until next year or when you turn 40 or sometime in the future. Don’t put it off. Don’t expect to accomplish your end goal immediately. Start small. Pink says “accomplish a few important goals.”

This means you know what is important. This means you’ve planned. This means you’ve taken that first step today. You’ll be able to look back a year from now and be astonished at how far you’ve come. You’ll be amazed at what it looks like in a decade or two. But if you don’t start today, you’ll be looking back on that year, decade, two decades from now thinking “what if?” Or thinking “I could have.”

Decide, Plan, Start

First, you need to decide what will be important to you.

Then, you need to build a plan for accomplishing your goal.

Finally, start today. Just small steps. But start!

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Blog Culture Facing Adversity

Struck Down

by Ron Potter March 3, 2022

We’ve been looking at a text written over 2,000 years ago. A partial reading of the text says that we are afflicted in every way, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down. We now come to the last word in the sequence, Stuck Down.

Being Struck Down is Painful

While being persecuted seems very painful and personal, being stuck down seems to be the ultimate of pain and suffering.

Maybe you’ve been struck down in the past. It might have been a baseball to the head that knocked you unconscious. Maybe you didn’t see the low beam or branch. These are very painful and physical.

I was never a fighter. However, there was a time in high school when the school bully decided to pick me out of the crowd and make an example of me. He was a couple of years older than me and much larger and stronger. He slapped me hard on my left cheek. It stung and brought water to my eyes and nearly knocked me out. But when I recovered and just stood there, he didn’t like that. So he struck me on the other cheek with similar results. I guess at that point he decided he wasn’t going to be successful in either starting a fight or knocking me down so he simply walked away.

Years later a friend told me how impressed he was that I simply stood there and took it. He thought it took real grit, self-control, and humility to accomplish. I had felt almost ashamed for many years for not fighting back or defending myself and yet here was my friend telling me how impressed he was with the grit and strength that I showed during that moment.

Last Word of the Four

Being struck down seems to be the most destructive and painful of all of the four descriptions. It can either be physical as in the example I gave or it can be emotional and maybe not even seen or noticed by others. But it will feel as if you’ve been struck down physically when it happens. Maybe it’s a simple word said by someone in a team meeting. It may have been intentional or completely innocent but it feels as if you’ve been struck down.

Being struck down is painful and destructive. It may even cause you to change who you are. It can affect your character and your outlook on life. And yet, it happens.

Dealing With Being Struck Down

There is no good way for dealing with the feeling of being struck down. My only suggestion is to endure. Remind yourself of who you are. Fall back on your character and belief system. You may have been struck down physically or emotionally. Either way, endure. Live through it. Become stronger. Grow. The text says that it will happen. We will be struck down. In our lifetime, we will not avoid it. At some point, we will be or feel like we’ve been struck down.

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Blog Culture Facing Adversity

Persecuted

by Ron Potter February 24, 2022

We’ve been looking at a text written over 2,000 years ago. A partial reading of the text says that we are afflicted in every way, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down.

In this blog we’ll be looking at the third word on the list, persecuted. One of the definitions from the dictionary is “Subject to hostility and ill-treatment.” Another one says to “harass or annoy persistently.” While being annoyed by someone can be humorous (for a period of time), the other words of hostility, ill-treatment, and harassment are powerful, personal, and damaging.

Dealing With Persecution

One of my favorite fictional characters is Jack Reacher from the novels written by Lee Child. Reacher, retired from the Military Police, is simply walking across the United States to see it up close and in person. However, his “simple” walk turns into some sort of personal persecution in almost every small town. It’s interesting to me that even though he is unjustly persecuted in each novel, Reacher never seems to be too upset by the persecution. He simply starts some logical investigative work that he learned in the military to “get at” what is causing the persecution.

As our ancient text says, we will be persecuted for no apparent reason. Reacher lives with that kind of persecution everywhere he goes. The text says nothing about justly or unjustly, it just says we will be persecuted. Almost nothing makes us feel worse than being persecuted.

Tough to Deal With

Unlike the first two words of our text, persecution is personal. It feels like we are being harmed.

I was working with one company for several years when my client saw me enter the office of someone he didn’t trust. He immediately called me to his office and fired me. He also began to persecute me. He bad-mouthed me whenever he had the chance. He identified me as a liar and troublemaker. He said I could not be trusted and therefore should not work with anyone else at the company. I was devastated. I had always maintained a very high reputation at all the companies I had worked for and this seemed to be both personal and very damaging.

I talked with this person’s boss (whom I had also worked for and believed I had a good reputation with). The boss gave me some advice. He told me that when this person found out that none of the accusations were true (the boss still believed in me), he would never apologize (it wasn’t in his nature) but he would ask me to continue working for him as if nothing had happened. The boss was right. Within a couple of months, the person asked me to come to his office and began talking about what needed to be done next with his team. He never apologized but simply went on about our work together as if nothing had happened. In fact, I worked with him and his teams at two other companies when he took new jobs.

Persecuted

Persecution happened. I almost quit consulting believing I had done something very wrong or bad, but just didn’t know what. I was being heavily persecuted but it seemed to come from nowhere. Our ancient text doesn’t say that we will deserve the persecution, it just says we will be persecuted.

Sometimes we’re persecuted for a reason. Maybe we were the first to persecute the other person and now it’s payback time. But that’s not what the text is referring to. It doesn’t give a reason. It simply says we will experience persecution. To deal with the persecution there is reason to examine yourself to make sure you were not the instigator, but like my example above and the text says, “you will be persecuted.” When that happens, the only advice I have is to be patient with yourself. You may never know why you were feeling persecuted. The text simply says “you will be persecuted.” This takes a lot of humility and grit. It’s not easy to remain calm during persecution—but be patient. Eventually, things will clear up.

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Blog Culture Facing Adversity

Afflicted in Every Way

by Ron Potter February 10, 2022

This is from a text written over 2,000 years ago. A partial reading of the text says that we are afflicted in every way, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down.

No One Is Left Out

Notice that we text says “we.” All of us. No one is left out. No one is not afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, struck down.

Think of these in terms of teams and leaders. Webster defines it as grievously affected or troubled. Have you ever felt grievously affected or troubled as a leader or team member? You’re not alone. And it may not be the only time.

The text simply says that we will be afflicted. It doesn’t narrow the definition to a person, to a moment in time, or to particular circumstances. It simply says we will be afflicted. Webster’s definition talks about being grievously afflicted. The term grievous talks of something bad, very severe, or serious.

Even if we restrict our definition to seriousness, it can be crushing. For example, have you ever sat in a team meeting, as either a member or the leader, and dealt with an issue that seems inevitable with no way to overcome the circumstances?

No Avoidance

These can be difficult moments with no way to avoid the bad, severe, or serious outcome. We may be faced with market conditions that we didn’t see coming or we are totally unprepared to deal with. In those moments we can feel grievously afflicted. We may take it as a result of our own doing or shortsightedness of what is happening in the marketplace.

I wrote a blog a few weeks ago about the tendency of humans to see in straight lines. Our assumption is that if things are going well they’ll continue to get better. If things are going poorly there seems to be no way to recover. However, things will change. Yet it can make us feel grievously afflicted along the way.

If there is no real way to avoid this feeling, how do we cope with it? First, remember that we will all be afflicted one way or another sooner or later. The ancient text says we will be afflicted regardless of circumstances. If that is the case, state it. Sharing that feeling with others helps us all cope. Once you identify the affliction, work together for a united solution. It may not be the best solution and it may not bring about fully satisfying results, but it’s a united solution and one that we can work together to create. Going to work on a solution helps us get past the affliction.

Affliction Solution

I worked with one company that had been an industry leader for over a hundred years. Because that was the case and they were thinking in straight lines, they didn’t see the industry changes on the horizon. By the time they realized it, the industry had shifted and, in the end, they ended up with about 40% of the success that had experienced for years. Many people on the team felt personally afflicted. But, once they started working together on a solution, they began to talk about how they had 40% of the industry. Companies would give almost anything for that kind of market share. Even though it was a huge blow to the history of the company, it was still larger than any company in the industry. Not really too bad in today’s market.

You will be afflicted. It may relate to business life or personal life, but it will happen. The sooner you can name it and work toward a united solution the better. The affliction will dissipate (until the next one hits). We will be afflicted. Expect it. Prepare for it.

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Blog Culture Facing Adversity

Facing Adversity

by Ron Potter February 3, 2022

How do we face adversity? This is a difficult one for me to write. Mainly because I’ve been in my own set of adversities. Over the last several weeks I have been back in the hospital and had further operations as I deal with my inherited liver disease. But, I’m not the only one. I’ve seen several of my friends deal with

Cancer that requires infusions several times a month for the rest of his life.
Irritable bowel syndrome—that can put another friend in the hospital at any moment.
Parkinson’s disease.
Loss of a long-time spouse.

Adversity can touch any of us at any time. So how do we deal with it?

Glass Half Full

As my friends and I were talking the other day it became obvious that each of us was more concerned about the others. This seemed to be the true definition of friendship. While each of us was dealing with our own issue we seemed to be more concerned about others’ issues. Each of us was in a good mood—laughing, joking, and lifting each other up. It was that humor and lifting each other up that helped each of us work through our individual issues. A glass half full adds a lot to everyone’s life.

We’re Not the Only One

That conversation also reminded me that I wasn’t alone. Over the next few weeks, I’m going to focus on the conflicts from an ancient document. This seems to indicate that each of us deals with these conflicts. There is no escaping from the conflicts that we face in life. They have been around forever. If we think we shouldn’t deal with these conflicts, we’re just kidding ourselves. Every human being has dealt with them throughout history.

Be Prepared

If we list them and name them and understand them at least we have a better chance of dealing with our own conflicts and helping others deal with their conflicts. Let’s list them. Let’s be prepared for them. Let’s not assume that we shouldn’t face them. We all will. How we deal with them will make all the difference for ourselves and others.

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Blog Team

Conquering Our Fears

by Ron Potter January 13, 2022

It was a beautiful sunny day. A light breeze was blowing and I was walking along a sidewalk. What conditions could make it better?

Well for one, it would have been great to have some safety equipment. My walk wasn’t exactly on a sidewalk. I was about 140 forty feet in the air (fourteen stories) walking on an 8″ I-beam with no safety equipment. To further hamper the situation, for those who know me, you already know that I’m extremely knock-kneed. When my knees are tightly together, the inside of my feet are still 5″ apart. This makes it even more difficult when you walking on a “sidewalk” that is only 8 inches wide.

I was just out of engineering school and this was in the day prior to safety equipment. No belt tied off to anything. No net to catch me if I fell. If I missed a step, it was 140′ straight down to a concrete slab.

Encouraged to Overcome Fears

At the end of that first day, I went to see the chief engineer and said I just couldn’t do that job. I spent the whole day terrified. His come back was “Give it three weeks. If at the end of that time you still can’t do it I’ll give you another assignment.”

I’m sure he had worked with other “rookies” through his career and had learned about facing your fears and then overcoming them. Who knows, he may have gone through the same experience in his early career.

Facing my fears

So the next day I was back in the structural steel doing my job the best that I could while dealing with my fears.

While I was up 140′, the Ironworkers were another 20 feet above me continuing to put the entire structure together. We topped out at about 200 feet. These Ironworkers ran around grabbing beams being lifted to them by cranes and loosely bolting them together. They were running around as if they were on that sidewalk on a breezy, sunny day. I could tell they were watching me with amusement as I carefully picked my way through steel 20 feet below them.

Discipline and Focus to Overcome Fears

I began to learn a technique that worked for me and helped me move across that 8″ I-beam approximately 40′ in distance. I would stand at one column with my back wedged in as tight as possible so that I felt secure and then I would begin focusing on the column 40′ away that I had to walk to. As I focused more and more, a flaw or mark in the structural steel began to become visible to me. It was something I could look at and keep my focus on.

The next move was to step out on the beam, never losing my focus on my spot, and begin walking. If I looked down I would fall. If I moved my focus left or right, I would step off the I-beam.

I stayed focused and disciplined to keep walking forward. Eventually, I reached the other side and the “safety” of another column.

Distractions Throw Off your Focus and Discipline

After a couple of weeks, the Ironworkers thought I had become more than a curiosity to watch and was now something to be played with.

After slowing my breathing, locking in my focus, and stepping out to walk my next I-beam, I was nearly halfway across when an Ironworker slid down the column where my focus spot was and began walking toward me.

One of the first things they teach you before going into the steel was the technique for passing someone in the middle of a beam. You were to stand toe-to-toe with the other person, grasp each other’s wrists tightly, and then lean back until your weight was balanced. Then you would slowly swivel 180 degrees, keeping your toes on the beam and your weight balanced. After the swivel was completed, you turned and continued walking the other way.

After we completed our little dance, the Ironworker turned and walked away from me chuckling. I was left standing in the middle of the beam trying to settle my brain, my fear, and regain a focus point. I finally captured a focus point on the column I had just come from and walked to it. It took me several minutes to calm my heart and breathing to get the fear in my brain to subside while clinging to the column —the one I had just come from.

All the while there was a chorus of laughter coming from the ironworkers overhead. On the way down in the construction elevator that night one of the Ironworkers said quietly how proud he was of me for handling such a scary situation.

Distractions: Outside and Inside.

Distractions will come at you from anywhere. The outside world is constantly throwing distractions at you. I really don’t like the word “busy” because it indicates to me that you’re letting those outside distractions rule your life and are not facing the fears and difficult situations that you need to face to be successful.

The inside distractions are maybe even worse. They’re excuses! Seemly valid reasons for not facing your fears or developing the focus and discipline to overcome them.

Fears are natural and they are powerful. But they are just fears.

One definition says that fear is “an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that something is dangerous, likely to cause pain.” Notice that it’s based on a “belief”. Just because you fear something doesn’t make it a real threat.

Get focused. Be disciplined. Make the decision to face your fears and overcome them.

I was fortunate to have that fearful experience just a few weeks into my work career. It set the tone for a lifetime of facing my fears directly. You may not have had that early experience but it doesn’t make any difference. Starting to face your fears at any point in your life will make the rest of your life much better.

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Blog Leadership

Honored and Humbled

by Ron Potter August 19, 2021

This blog is personal.

Alumni of the year

I was recently honored as the Alumni of the year from my high school. I was very honored and humbled. The upbringing I had as a child doesn’t seem to be available to many people anymore. I was raised in a small rural Michigan town that was very stable. Many of my friends I knew all the way from kindergarten to high school graduation. Some of them I knew even before we started school.

One of those friends and I have occasionally wondered about what was it about our environment and upbringing that allowed us to work comfortably all over the country and world. This award forced me to get my thoughts down on paper as an answer to that question

God, Family, Friends, Mentors

As I began to collect and record my thoughts, I focused on these four elements that had made difference for me that carried me through a lifetime.

God

One summer I was attending a Christian Camp run by Bill Glass. At the time, Bill Glass was the defensive end for the Cleveland Browns. He was big and powerful, a man’s man, and had everything he needed to be a self-reliant individual. However, that week he spoke often about his total dependence on Christ being his Lord and Savior and that he would be nothing without him. His message began to sink in with me and by the end of the week, I had also accepted Christ as Savior.

On the last night of the camp, there was a great deal of singing and asking people to come forward to either declare their decisions or acknowledge that they needed to make a decision. I was in a row of about a dozen guys, standing third from the isle.

I knew I had to go forward to declare my decision but as a 14-year-old boy was struggling with the issue. Pretty soon the two guys closest to the aisle went down front. The guy to my right began nudging me saying that I needed to go down front. I kept saying that I knew I did but just needed a minute.

Finally, after one more nudge, I turned to him to tell him I knew that I did but when I turned to face him, the entire row was empty. I was the only one in the aisle! I knew right then that it wasn’t a human that was nudging me and I immediately went down front. After that my local church began to nurture me, learning more about the Lord as I grew.

Family

At the banquet were all of my siblings, one of my daughters from Tunisia (the other one was at a wedding in Colorado), and many nieces and nephews. As I looked and talked with each of them it was amazing that they all knew the Lord and were growing in him. I know that many families have difficulties and we have our share as well, but because we all know the Lord, we stay close and appreciate each other.

Friends

As I said earlier, many of my friends from high school have been my friends for my entire life. We remain amazingly close and although jobs and family took us in different directions, we still get together as often as we can. I cherish those moments and feel very blessed and loved by them. It gives me great strength.

Mentors

This one was difficult because there were so many. However, I narrowed it down to two because of time. The first one I identified was my father. I’m not sure he would have considered himself a mentor but he was to me. He had lost a leg in WWII that made his life very difficult but he never let it stop him. He started his own business that required a lot of physical effort, built his (and our) home, and raised a great family. And never once did I hear him complain!

And although he only had a high school education, he was a non-stop reader and learner. I would come home from Engineering School with a new concept I had just learned and couldn’t wait to share with him. But as soon as I did I would find out that he had been reading about the same concept and knew more about it than I did. I never could get ahead of him. The most cherished possession that I inherited was his dictionary. It is 8 x 10 in size and 8 inches thick. 8 inches thick! A dictionary.

The other mentor that came to mind for me was my high school physics teacher. There were many times when I thought he was picking on me. He would say “Potter, what’s the answer?” or “Potter, come to the board and show us how to solve this.” It just didn’t seem fair to me. Then one day I ran into him in a back hallway of our school and felt emboldened to confront him. When I asked why he seemed to be picking on me his answer was “Because you’re worth it!” He was the only high school teacher I went to visit after graduating from Engineer School.

God, Family, Friend, Mentors

As much as you might like to be, you will never be God.

Other than spouses, you can’t pick who your family will be.

That leaves friends and mentors. Cultivate friends that will tell you the truth no matter how painful that will be. Be that kind of friend to them.

Seek out mentors who will help you grow and develop. And be one yourself. Maybe it’s a friend you can mentor. Maybe it’s someone who you believe has great potential that could use your experience and care. Maybe it’s a grandchild. They look up to their grandparents whether they express it or not. Let someone else know they’re worth it!

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Blog Trust Me

Persist

by Ron Potter June 6, 2019

Whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.”
—James 1:2-4, NLT

Why persist?

When leaders develop endurance or perseverance, they develop maturity—not only within themselves but also within their organizations and teams. Persistence breeds character as we stick to the task, bring others along with us, and develop an enduring organization. According to Julien Phillips and Allan Kennedy,

Success in instilling values appears to have had little to do with charismatic personality. Rather it derives from obvious, sincere, sustained personal commitment to the values the leaders sought to implant, coupled with extraordinary persistence in reinforcing those values.

Bringing Others Along

Leaders who persist understand the importance of bringing every part of the organization along with them. It is a time-consuming and focused activity that will eventually yield tremendous results in overall morale, productivity, and team/employee support.

A leader needs the persistence to bring these people along—they are valuable to the team’s overall balance. They may simply need the leader to either ask them questions to propel them into the future or help them visualize steps to the future outcome.

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Blog Leadership

Enduring Leadership

by Ron Potter May 20, 2019

A.B. Meldrum once said,

Bear in mind, if you are going to amount to anything, that your success does not depend upon the brilliancy and the impetuosity with which you take hold, but upon the ever lasting and sanctified bull-doggedness with which you hang on after you have taken hold.”

Most of my clients would probably never hire me if I told them it was going to take five years to complete the major changes we talk about at the beginning of many of my consulting assignments. At one high-tech company, after three years of intensive effort to develop a new leadership style and corporate culture, the leadership team asked me to evaluate how they were doing. I asked them to rank their “completeness” in each of several major change categories. Overall, they ranked themselves at about 60 percent. I admitted that if they had asked me at the beginning of the process how long it was going to take, I would have estimated five years—so 60 percent after three years was just about right.

One strong leader whom I’m working with now took over an assignment three years ago in one of America’s largest corporations. When he was hired he was actually identified as the “change agent” that the company needed. Needed, maybe, but certainly not wanted. After three years of struggling with the internal practices of the company, he has finally assembled a leadership team that should be able to carry out the many changes that are needed to meet the firm’s looming challenges. I can recall many one-on-one conversations with him over the last three years when he wondered if he had the energy to keep going and whether it would be worth it in the end. But he has endured. I believe he will pick the fruit of an enduring company.

A leader needs to understand that he or she may quite naturally have an easy time focusing on the future or on how the future will look when certain projects, tasks, or goals are completed. Others within their teams may not be able to clearly or easily see the future, or they may be naturally pessimistic about anything involving the future. A leader needs the persistence to bring these people along—they are valuable to the team’s overall balance. They may simply need the leader to either ask them questions to propel them into the future or help them visualize steps to the future outcome.

Bringing an organization along also involves being particularly effective during times of change. Many on the team will naturally resist change, so leaders need to humbly and calmly coax people along to the new direction or vision.

Throughout the history of man, the greatest achievements have been accomplished by leaders having an against-all-odds tenacity. The unshakable convictions of the rightness of their causes have kept adventurers, explorers, entrepreneurs, and visionaries going despite overwhelming difficulty and fierce competition. They were and continue to be persistent, holding fast to their beliefs and moving the idea or the organization forward.

That’s the path to building an enduring organization.

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Blog Leadership

Arresting Avoidance

by Ron Potter May 13, 2019

The tendency to avoid problems and the emotional suffering inherent in them is the primary basis of all human mental illness.”
—M. Scott Peck

Avoidance-oriented people tend to move away from things that threaten them in order to protect themselves. Why? There are a number of reasons.

Avoidance as Protection

Often it is due to excessive concern about embarrassment. We just don’t want to be embarrassed or, more often, to embarrass someone else. We hold back—we don’t tell the truth—and poor organizational or personal behaviors are perpetuated.

Fear is another culprit. Sometimes it just seems easier to run and hide. Maybe the issue will somehow just go away? That’s classic avoidance—a sign of cowardly leadership.

Another reason for avoiding problems can be oversensitivity to the feelings or opinions of others. We just don’t want to hurt anybody. The other person is so nice; why should she have her parade rained upon? Issues are circumvented, and facts are ignored. We avoid the short-term pain and inflict a longer-term problem within the team and the organization.

And then there is the old standby character quality that causes so many problems: unhealthy pride. Some of the people who are most adept at avoidance are very proud, especially if exploring the gory details of an organizational issue might make them look bad.

Overcoming Avoidance

Leaders who develop a humble heart and a willingness to confront concerns do not allow pride to interfere. They are open to opportunities for self-growth because they are secure in who they are and are not preoccupied with themselves.

Avoidance holds back an organization whereas a commitment to improvement will positively influence your own development as well as the development of interpersonal relationships, teams, and overall company effectiveness.

It takes great courage to change a pattern of avoidance and seek instead to make improvements and overcome the pain or difficulty in making decisions, confronting people, or being overwhelmed by circumstances or self-doubt. It is not easy, but the benefits you will experience from making this change are far greater than the “benefits” of avoidance.

Freedom from avoidance enables leaders to focus attention on determining when a situation needs action and improvement.

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Holding the Hill

by Ron Potter May 6, 2019

On October 29, 1941, as the world reeled from the onslaught of the Nazi regime in Europe and faced a looming threat from Japan, Winston Churchill was asked to speak at Harrow, his old school. Near the end of his two-page speech, Churchill spoke the now famous words:

Never give in, never give in, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.”

Churchill had experienced many crushing setbacks throughout his life and political career, yet he refused to give up. He was a man of extreme courage and endurance.

Endurance

When leaders make decisions, seek to expand an organization’s borders, or want to execute an innovative idea or create change, they will encounter opposition and face the great temptation to conform or quit. How can they resist and stand strong? How can they acquire the bulldog will of a Winston Churchill and never give up?

Endurance is the result of two foundational character qualities: courage and perseverance. Both are required of leaders seeking the trust of others.

“Holding the hill” when under fire can be a terrifying and lonely experience. A leader will face a long list of challenges, which, if not faced and disarmed, can turn the most competent person into a faltering coward. I have grouped these pitfalls to courage into two categories: doubt and avoidance.

Defeating Doubt

This foe of courageous leadership comes in a variety of flavors.

First, there are the personal doubts

We may doubt our abilities, our judgment, our talents, and even our faith. We look at a problem and cannot find a solution. We attempt to fix it but cannot. Doubt oozes into our minds, and we are frozen into inactivity.

Then there are the doubts about our teams or others we depend upon

Have you ever worked with people who are overwhelmed, stressed out, resistant to change, burned out, not working together, complainers, rumor spreaders, backstabbers, non-communicators, whiners, stubborn hardheads, blamers, or unmotivated negative thinkers? When encountering such bad attitudes and behaviors that stall the progress of our teams, we are tempted to slide into despair, and our backbones turn to mush.

Next is doubt in the organization

We may see the company sliding down a hill to mediocre performance, abandoning the right values and a vibrant vision. It’s one thing to maintain your own personal courage in the place where you have influence. But it’s overwhelming to stand strong when the larger organization is waffling on its mission and embracing plans that seem doomed in the face of aggressive market competition. Your knees start to knock.

To endure as a leader, you will have to disarm doubt with gritty courage.

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