Resilient Leadership:  Summary

Cashman writes, “Being resilient means we can recover our balance even in the midst of action” . . . “when we are resilient, we can shoulder more weight with less effort because we are strong at our very foundation.” (Leadership from the Inside Out, p. 133)   I’d like to share three things you can do to increase your resiliency:

1. Accept responsibility for yourself.  No matter how high you scored on this inventory, there are areas in your life that can be improved.  Examine yourself with brutal honesty and target the area or areas where you need to start work – if you don’t know, ask your spouse. 
2. Be proactive.  Once you have identified the area, don’t procrastinate.  Build a plan of action for improvement and get started.  Take a class (or classes), attend a seminar, read books.  Don’t just say, “that’s just who I am.”  Deal with your weak areas or learn to be satisfied when you hit the glass ceilings which are sure to close in around you. 
3. Finally, learn to laugh more and love unconditionally.

Resilient Leadership, Part 4

Those who know me know that I have five principles of life by which I guide my life choices.  The first of these is “All of life can be reduced to relationships.”  But this was not always the case.

I have a confession to make: here is my dirty little secret – my Myers Briggs score is ENTJ.  ENTJ’s, I am told, comprise about 2 – 5% of the population, which is probably a good thing.  My personality is highly goal oriented, HIGHLY goal oriented.  Early in my career, I focused on achieving these goals, often at the expense of people and relationships.  My wife has “lovingly” called me a “smiling steamroller,” meaning that I will smile as I roll over anything that stands in the way of reaching my goals. 

 

Can you guess which of these four areas required the most work for me?  The irony of this is that I crave approval, usually from the very people I’ve run over on my way to reaching a goal.  Somewhere along the way many years ago I ran into a mirror and didn’t like what I saw.  With God’s help, I began a serious effort to improve in this area.  I read books, attended seminars, prayed (a lot) and practiced my new skills constantly.  

I can tell you I am not the man I use to be, but I still have to work harder at relationships than most people.  My weakness in this area has made me appreciate the importance of this particular aspect of Resilient Leadership.  I may not ever confused with a teddy bear, but I’m definitely working on not being a steam roller.  I’m trying to find the right balance.

Saccone in his book: Relational Intelligence writes, “Relationships are the context from which we find meaning and discover what lasting contributions we can make in the lives of others.  Our day-to-day human interactions will determine the quality of our lives more than the task or work we do, whether it’s our careers, in leadership, or in any other arena of life.  We cannot overestimate the profound effect relationship have on our lives.”  (Relational Intelligence, p. 12)

I have a lecture I give in my class on Biblical Covenants.  It takes place early in the course and revolves around the story of God’s creation of Adam.  The gist of the lecture has to do with: “what does it mean to be created in the image of God.”  After exploring various options I postulate this:  That the nature of God is triune (i.e. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and that we are most “in the image of God” when we exist in harmonious, loving relationships with each other – and least when we have broken and fractured relationships.  I believe this; that God created us to be in relationship, and it is IN relationship we find God.  Relational Support draws upon the strength of our interactions with each other