Situational Leadership...

If business is unpredictable as we know it, then we are periodically
faced with different situations to deal with. Social, technical or
economic developments make business seem like the weather.
This is the test of our mettle as a Leader.

How then do you face such situations? Do you just jump and swim?
This can’t be, if so, most all businesses would be at risk of losing
money more than achieving their objectives.

But what about courage? Isn’t it that courage is the one key quality
that can be found in successful Leaders?

Well, yes.

“Courage is the quality that guarantees all others.”
- Winston Churchill

But this courage does not mean business suicide. This courage does
not mean to put your organization at great risk of crumbling. This
courage is about having the guts to move forward… to explore…
to think out-of-the-box... to invest in potentials… to step out of your
comfort zone, your status quo. Courage is about not waiting for the
perfect, but bending rules to get the better.
This is how to create opportunities.

Consider an excerpt from a leadership book by Jeffrey J. Fox:

Become a member of the “shouldn’t have club”…
People who belong to the “should’ve club” are always saying,
“I should’ve done that”; “I could’ve done that”; or “I would’ve done that.”
The “should’ve club” is full of nondoers, the risk averse.
They never go for it. They are so afraid of losing,
they never plan to win.

The “should’ve club”... never get cut or scratched. They never miss
a shot in the last second. There are no reprimands, and they make
no waves. There is not an Arnold Palmer or Chris Evert or
Larry Bird in this club.

The “shouldn’t have club” is the place to be. This is the winners’ circle.
Each time you admonish yourself… there will be ten other times
when the results will prove you should have.

No guts, no glory.

…

But then, is courage enough? Well, you have just read some
thoughts from Winston Churchill. Thus, courage is the master key
but not the only key.

“Chance favors the prepared mind.” - Louis Pasteur

To lead effectively in different situations, you got to have the basic
knowledge of your field and grow it with time, thought, and practice.
Yet like courage, such knowledge and experience does not make
you into a leader, but you can not be without it. That does not mean
that leaders can not change fields, like becoming a Managing Director
of an electronic company after running a car assembly plant; but it
implies that they will not be successful unless they can quickly learn
the essentials of the new industry or occupation.

Still, courage and expertise or learning ability is not enough…
as a Leader, a vital trait would be to possess the kind of temperament
required by the working “situations” you are in.

Business has it’s ups and downs… and in times of crisis, one’s ability
to think fast yet accurately and then decide well is greatly determined
by one’s ability to get hold of himself.

Remember… “People who are incapable of relaxing should never be placed
in positions of responsibility.” - Lord Chalfront