One of the things you can never separate from leading is decision-making. It is giving direction and navigating anticipated and never imagined scenarios.
Teams and organisations, by default, look to leaders for guidance. With that in mind I make a confession for leaders all around the world:
Sometimes we have no clue what we’re doing or should be doing.
That competent and knowledgeable leaders are always in the know is a fallacy. The same is true for leaders by default. “Leaders by default” are leaders, several times, who became leaders because there was no one else.
The competence of leaders is hardly a factor; there are instances that demand of leaders nothing they were and could ever have been prepared for.
To continue with the confession:
I sometimes have no clue on what I am doing or should be doing but I move forward anyway. There are times I make decisions in the dark, because one simply has to be made to move my enterprise forward.
Sometimes I know my organization risks irrelevance and stagnation without a movement of some sort. So I move and take my organization “somewhere” because where we are could spell our death.
There are instances where I also lose sight of “tha vision” in my state of panic. When the dust, and my senses settle, I have to make course adjustments to get back on track.
Crux
Leadership, a lot of the times boil down to nothing but grit and courage. Nothing to do with knowledge, wisdom or aptitude [Click to Tweet]
Leadership is dynamic and will have times of unpredictability and instability. These times demand a response from leaders and they must respond on way that not only preserves their enterprises but also moves them forward.
What separates losers from great leaders is their commitment to find a way, a solution, and a strategy of getting closer to goals despite their knowledge and competence gaps.
Great leaders find a way to make things happen because they are committed more to their vision than to limitations [Click to Tweet]
Leaders, can you identify?
[Photo Credit: katerha]