Recessions Require Leadership from the Core!

Recessions Require Leadership from the Core!
When the mood in our workplace, at home, or in society in
general is subdued, the value of great leaders becomes
apparent.

How often have you seen individuals who have been promoted
from one level to the next and the next and the next based
on need and some extraordinary skills become insecure,
controlling, stressed out and un-approachable, especially
when their leadership is most needed?

How often have you lived through situations where decisions
are being announced without a detailed explanation or
reason why?

Have you been craving for leaders who are authentic, well
balanced between factual knowledge and emotional
intelligence?

Leading from the core is one of those traits that take a
lot of development tobecome good at. To get into the right
frame of mind, here is a little story I received today from
Tom Mathews:

As a leader, do you honor and appreciate the power of WE?
Do you stop to thank and recognize the members of your
team? Do you consistently show an attitude of gratitude?

I recently read a great story about Captain Charles Plumb,
a graduate from the Naval Academy, whose plane, after 74
successful combat missions over North Vietnam, was shot
down. He parachuted to safety, but was captured, tortured
and spent 2,103 days in a small box-like cell.

After surviving the ordeal, Captain Plumb received the
Silver Star, Bronze Star, the Legion of Merit and two
Purple Hearts, and returned to America and spoke to many
groups about his experience and how it compared to the
challenges of every day life.

Shortly after coming home, Charlie and his wife were
sitting in a restaurant. A man rose from a nearby table,
walked over and said, "You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters
in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were
shot down!"

Surprised that he was recognized, Charlie responded, "How
in the world did you know that?" The man replied, "I packed
your parachute." Charlie looked up with surprise. The man
pumped his hand, gave a thumbs-up, and said, "I guess it
worked!"

Charlie stood to shake the man's hand, and assured him, "It
most certainly did work. If it had not worked, I would not
be here today."

Charlie could not sleep that night, thinking about the man.
He wondered if he might have seen him and not even said,
"Good morning, how are you?" He thought of the many hours
the sailor had spent bending over a long wooden table in
the bottom of the ship, carefully folding the silks and
weaving the shrouds of each chute, each time holding in his
hands the fate of someone he didn't know.

Plumb then began to realize that along with the physical
parachute, he needed mental, emotional and spiritual
parachutes. He had called on all these supports during his
long and painful ordeal.

As a leader, how many times a day, a week, a month, do we
pass up the opportunity to thank those people in our
organization who are "packing our parachutes"?

I can relate to this story, not only because I was a
military jet aviator myself and have been with the guys who
packed my parachute. I also relate to it because this core
from which true, successful leadership comes from is a core
of empathy, caring, praise, character, and appreciation.

To develop these traits and live them everyday in every
situation, no matter how bad the problem, how bad the
economy, how bad the sales, and how bad the approaching
recession, a certain attitude is required.

This attitude assumes that every person is good, trying as
hard as he or she can, and is willing to improve, given the
proper guidance. As the leader we want to be this guide who
provides support, creates the environment to excel, and is
willing to take the blame and responsibility when things
don't work out as we had planned. That is distinctly
different from a manager who takes a leaders' vision and
strategy and converts it into processes, policies,
directives, and rules.

If you like to learn more about the development of this
core, I recommend Henry Cloud's book 'Integrity', Jim
Collins 'Good to Great', Richard Boyartzis 'Resonant
Leadership', and John Kotter's 'Our Iceberg is melting'. If
you learn better with a story, you might want to start with
Steve Farber's 'Radical Leap'.

In any case, ask yourself what you can do to develop a
positive, resonating, caring core from which you operate,
help other people succeed, and conduct your daily life. As
you develop this core, you will enable yourself and those
around you to come through adversity, recession, health
issues, and the challenges of living and working with
others with flying colors.

Don't forget, they are packing your parachute - so you
better treat them well and appreciate their focus and
accuracy, so you will live another day and have a chance to
be the beacon they require for direction in life.

----------------------------------------------------
Axel Meierhoefer is a performance coach, author, and the
founder of Axel Meierhoefer Consulting (AMC LLC). His motto
is" Helping others help themselves achieve success". If
you'd like to get on his E-mail list for more articles, or
like more insights, goto
http://www.myperformanceiq.com/secretstruthperformance.html
or email AM@Meierhoefer.net.