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Leaders are no strangers to challenges – Challenge is the crucible for greatness!

The best leadership victories are those in which victory has resulted over adversity, departures from the past and about doing things things that have never been done before. The truth is that Challenge is the crucible for greatness! The study of leadership is the study of how men and women guide people through uncertainty, hardship, disruption, transformation, transition, recovery, new beginnings, and other significant challenges. In the words of the late John Gardner, advisor to 4 U.S. Presidents and founder of Common Cause used to say; “What we have before us are some breathtaking opportunities disguised as insoluble problems.”

Leadership and challenges are inseparable. Consider these four insights on challenges.

Brick Walls Test Commitment

You do not have to look for long until you will discover challenges and hardships. Challenges can be harsh reminders of what it looks like to come face-to-face with ourselves. They remind us of what is important, what we value, and where we are headed. Randy Pausch’s famous “Last-Lecture” is one such presentation that causes us to stop in our tracks. Not every challenge in life is a life or death moment. Sometimes they are external and at other times they are internal. Regardless of where it comes from and by whose hand, every leader must take charge of the challenge. Taking charge is the only way to make a difference.

Strengthen Resilience

Confronting challenges and making changes can be stressful. Too much stress can be very unhealthy. That is why leading change requires resiliency! You cannot control every circumstance in the greater arena of your environment. But you can still control your actions, response, and emotions to your environment. Be willing to take charge of change. To be a leader you need to make something happen. Leaders are not Pollyannas. They acknowledge reality, but they are quick to mobilize personal and group resources to deal with challenges.

Get Gritty

It takes determination and strength to deal the adversities of life. You cannot allow set-backs or roadblocks to get in your way. You cannot give when the resistance builds or the competition increases. You need GRIT! Grit is a firmness of spirit that allows you to deal with challenges. Grit has been defined as the perseverance and passion for long-term goals.

Failing Is Learning

Whenever you’re challenging the status quo, whenever you’re tackling demanding problems, whenever you’re making meaningful changes, whenever you’re confronting adversity, you will sometimes fail. Despite how much you see challenge as an opportunity, despite how focused you can be, despite how driven you are to succeed, without a doubt there will be setbacks!

The old adage is true, “Learning does not take place in the absence of mistakes!” This is not to promote failing for the sake of it. Anytime that you experience new ideas and are trying new methods and techniques, you have to accept failure as part of the process. If you are going to lead well, you have to continually learn. Stop that process and you will become irrelevant pretty fast.

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