Leadership Lesson- Persistence
Posted by Celia Couture on Fri, Aug 14, 2009 @ 01:12 PM
Persistence
"Persistence is what makes the impossible possible, the possible likely, and the likely definite." By Robert Half, personnel executive.
This is sage advice for leaders at all levels of an organization. If you are not successful at something one day, you can't let that one incident influence how you will approach the problem the next day. Being a Red Sox fan, watching the Sox drop 7 straight to the Yankees and the Tampa Bay, I have to admit was a downer. I was, however, impressed by the attitudes of the Red Sox Players. They viewed the succession of events as simply an anomaly and these things happen in baseball. They have full confidence that if they persist in playing the game the way they know how they are certainly going to come back and be in contention.
Whether they make it or not, this attitude is indicative of a strong personal and team effort. We can either throw in the towel or learn from our mistakes and keep going. It's really no different than following a rigid diet plan. Just because you have a piece of chocolate cake after losing 50 pounds, you are not sabotaging your success. You merely have to pick up the next day and continue to pursue those things that made you lose the weight in the first place.
Think about this advice the next time you are working with employees who are particularly down about their jobs. Part of our role as leaders is to ensure that we maintain a positve and persistent attitude even when times are tough.