Summary
“Struggle as an Art”
All leaders struggle, but often convention and tradition keep them from expressing their fears, concerns and worries during difficult times. Leaders who know how to deal with struggle and grow from it can learn to be at home in the battle. They recognize that any difficulty can be a crucible for forging new strengths. These leaders seize struggle “as an art to be mastered.”
“Struggle occurs when a difficult or complex situation arises that presents some challenge or adversity.”
Anyone who is trying to live mindfully and morally is acting like a leader. However, people who want to evolve must acknowledge their weaknesses. Worthy leaders think about whether their personal and organizational goals align with their personal and organizational values. The real world is anarchic, imperfect and unpredictable, so solid leaders must temper their “conviction with pragmatism.”
“If you are currently struggling with a situation, consciously look for subtle cues that you may have previously missed.”
Profit, power and expansion are good commercial goals, but they are not the only goals worth pursuing. Your personal and organizational goals and values matter, too. Chasing objectives that conflict with your personal morality will end in failure. All leaders face personal and circumstantial limitations. True leaders excel in spite of them.
“The ‘art of struggle’ lies not in achievements but in the ripples from the journey and how we’ve grown along the way.”
“The Struggle Lens”
The view through the struggle lens – a prism for viewing leaders and leadership – doesn’t differentiate between leaders and followers. The lens focuses on the ways that anyone who “engages in the struggle to make human values real and effective” is, by definition, leading. Every person has flaws; pretending you have only strengths and no weaknesses leads to misguided actions and poor leadership. Most leadership tales focus on a leader’s “what and how.” The struggle lens focuses on “why.”
“Not only is change at the heart of leadership struggle, it is also a source of the emotional and physical tension a leader feels as a result of that struggle.”
Some leaders repeatedly make the same mistakes because they don’t recognize how “unenlightened behavior” creates the very forces that breed their struggles. These leaders don’t learn the lessons that failure tries to teach them, and they forget that “happiness and fulfillment” spring from life’s journey, with all its up and downs. No leader can control the vagaries of the world. Leadership’s struggles revolve around change, but change itself generates “tensions” that can be unnerving.
“Adaptive energy is the force that propels you to reach your dreams, pointing you toward the goal line and warning you when you veer off course.”
Tensions about change may arise as you juggle old and new methods, personnel, and thoughts or feelings. Such tensions can throw you “out of balance,” a reaction that may stem from your psychological or spiritual makeup. Gauge what you’re experiencing by using the “leadership tension map,” a matrix that weighs “relationships (outward)” and “identity (inward)” on a vertical axis in balance with “traditions (past)” and “aspirations (future)” on a horizontal axis. Determining the “relative strength” of your tension points on this matrix can help you describe the source of your struggles and can “give you insights into how to minimize or resolve” them. Leaders can work through six “progressions” or “struggle scripts” to overcome challenges:
“If you decide to stay where you are, don’t allow yourself to coast; actively recommit with the intention to fully engage.”
- “Proactive reinvention” – When leaders come to understand that old strategies no longer work, they need to “start anew with fresh perspectives.”
- “Stumble, recover and learn” –Leaders who see their mistakes “take appropriate corrective action,” mend relationships and determine not to repeat the mistakes.
- “Burnout” – Passionate leaders try to reach new heights by vigorously pursuing their ideas. But, when something or someone thwarts their vision, the result can include feuds, enmities and long battles. In the face of conflict, emotion-driven leaders may perceive that they have little control over implementing their vision, a realization that drains their “physical and emotional energy.” They sap other people’s energy, and, often, they resign.
- “Transcending constraint” – Leaders who perceive difficulties ahead may predict that these barriers will be insurmountable and could even feel they won’t be able to overcome them. However, they muster “adaptive energy” that pushes them forward and guides them, often somewhat unknowingly, to unimagined solutions.
- “Mission impossible” – Even when leaders call on all their skills, experience and energy, sometimes, in the end, they must accept that they can’t “realize their visions and aspirations.” Then, they either leave or sit tight and cool down until they regain balance.
- “Confronting failure” – Sometimes leaders must accept failure, find inner strength, own their mistakes and move confidently toward the future.
“Resolving tensions of identity is central to navigating through struggle.”
Internal Drive
Adaptive energy is the crucial internal power that fuels great effort. It guides you and tells you when you’ve moved in the wrong direction. It ensures that your actions stay in sync with the business world’s “external criteria” for reaching your goals and with your “inner values and principles.” Fear is the nemesis of adaptive energy. The “negative emotions” that arise when you are afraid can stifle your sense of daring. Giving in to fear can invert your adaptive energy and send you down a wrong-headed or self-destructive course. To combat fear, work to become more self-aware. When you know and understand your positive or negative emotions and drives, you can “adaptively channel your behavior” to productive ends that help you resolve your situation.
“In the midst of failure or adversity, you may feel…like curling up and surrendering.”
Apple’s late founder Steve Jobs demonstrated adaptive energy when he gave in to negative emotions and later adjusted. During his first stint at Apple, he forced his computer teams to compete aggressively against each other to boost their individual products, the Lisa or the Mac. He belittled team members, constantly displayed anger and negativity, and fomented discord with CEO John Sculley, a former friend. When Jobs returned to Apple years later, he understood himself, his gifts and his demons far better. He had learned when to harness which energy.
“A leader with a growth mind-set is consciously aware that ability is not innate and unchangeable but instead a malleable quality that can continuously be augmented through practice and persistence.”
The “Automatic Mind” and the “Reflective Mind”
The automatic mind quickly forms opinions and conclusions by associating new events or information with material the brain has already stored. In its haste, the automatic mind often reaches the wrong conclusion, but then it refuses to budge. It wants to settle matters in a hurry; it doesn’t communicate with the reflective mind, and it ignores the conscious world. The automatic mind chooses options that are usually habitual and “subject to preprogrammed routines.”
“Compelling scientific evidence [says] that a growth mind-set can significantly improve performance.”
In contrast, the reflective mind takes its time and relies on “reason and logic.” It embraces “metathought” – the process of thinking consciously about your thoughts. Willful action springs from the reflective mind, not from impulse. However, the reflective mind often lets the automatic mind sort out the options. To prevent this from happening, train your reflective mind to become more assertive as a decision maker and a “goal-directed, rational thinker.” To consider an issue from the reflective point of view, ask for different opinions before you make a decision, consider a problem at length before picking a solution, picture the “future consequences” of each action, embrace shades of meaning and avoid “absolute” answers.
“Through mindfulness, our focus turns to ‘being,’ as in being fully present in the moment – fully awake, fully aware and fully attentive.”
“The Fixed Mind-Set”
Your upbringing, environment, parents and education helped shape your mind-set. Most parents praise their children by saying, “You are smart.” However, praising kids for their intelligence leads them to believe they can overcome any obstacle. When they later encounter an unbeatable blockade, it can cast a shadow on their belief in their own abilities. When people with a fixed mind-set fail, they turn against themselves. They lose confidence and fall into a self-fueling spiral of negative thinking. Conversely, when things go well, people feel that’s due to their innate abilities, and they are less likely to learn new things from their success or to try new approaches.
“Meditation helps [people] get centered and focused on what’s important.”
“The Growth Mind-Set”
Leaders with a growth mind-set know that “ability is not innate and unchangeable” but highly plastic. Learning, self-discipline and reflection can elevate it to a higher level. Having a growth mind-set inspires you to want to learn and become more informed. Real leaders avoid repetitive, easy tasks. They know they must test themselves to grow. A leader who has a growth mind-set believes in willful self-improvement, takes failure as an inspiration to gain new skills, relies on carefully structured “goal-directed” strategies, seeks and heeds constructive feedback, and looks for and welcomes challenges. Such a leader knows achievement springs from prolonged effort.
“Positive energy begets more positive energy.”
“Adaptive and Interfering Behaviors”
Adaptive people adjust well to their circumstances, but interfering people do not. That paradox is basic human nature. Adaptive behaviors might include working hard, eating and living in a healthful way, using your artistic talents, building a strong community, and being aware enough to examine your thoughts, feelings and processes. Interfering behaviors might include delaying work you should do, giving in to negative emotions, failing to listen patiently to others and succumbing to solitude.
To understand both behaviors, draw two columns on a page. In one column, list your adaptive behaviors and, in the other, your interfering behaviors. Note how they dovetail and fuel one another, even if they contradict. This chart should form the basis of your first few sessions of the “introspection process.”
“The Practice of Reflection”
To embark on introspection, spend at least 30 minutes a week “reflecting” on and “contemplating” your thoughts, actions, feelings and habits. If you had a good week, review what you did that brought you the results you wanted. If you had a bad week, analyze how you may have contributed to that outcome. Don’t blame others. If you feel envy or self-pity, take a deep breath, identify those emotions as such and return to carefully, nonjudgmentally reviewing your week. Quiet self-examination is an exercise in calming your “monkey mind,” the quality of being easily distracted and of actively, constantly seeking distraction. Activities that quell monkey mind lead to powerful self-insights. To gain focus, concentration and inner peace, take time weekly or daily to consider your actions and thoughts from a calm perspective.
“Staying in the Dance”
No matter what your circumstances, don’t surrender. Look deep inside yourself and strive to recover your courage and your motivation to “stay in the dance.” The source of the energy you need to recover from hard times depends largely on your emotional and psychological makeup. The religious person may draw that energy from spirituality. For people vested in family, the support of loved ones may be the engine. Creative people might turn to greater immersion in whatever art most inspires them.
The core of staying in the dance is engaging in whatever struggle stretches before you, learning about yourself as you face it head on and then judiciously deciding on your next step. The “ABCs of resilience” cover going through “adversity,” defining your “beliefs” and adjusting to the “consequences.” Resilience does not mean repeating past mistakes or forcing yourself to stay in the very dance that made you struggle. Sometimes you may need to find a different dance.
“The Practice of Mindfulness”
Modern life demands staying in a constant state of “doing.” However, when you face a struggle, you must stop and “anchor and balance” yourself. To learn how, develop and practice mindfulness, which lets you focus on your state of “being” while remaining completely aware and “fully present in the moment.” Mindfulness means labeling your emotions as you experience them, rather than letting them consume you. To become mindful, you must meditate. Remain still in a quiet place for a certain predetermined amount of time – a minute, 20 minutes, maybe an hour. The Dalai Lama says “consistent practice” is crucial to meditation. When you meditate, expect to grow restless. Say to yourself, “I’m fidgeting.” Don’t give in to the urge; just notice it.
Studies show that meditation positively influences brain functions. Consistent, disciplined meditation will bring great positive change to your mental and physical energy. Many leaders who meditate report greater feelings of calmness, confidence, self-awareness and drive, as well as greater flexibility in their thinking. A few minutes of stillness every day will improve your health, your relationships, and your creativity and will make you the best leader you can be.
About the Author
Winner of the first-ever World Technology Award for Commerce, former Microsoft leader Steven Snyder created Snyder Leadership Groups, a consulting firm.
