The Real Harvest from Bad Situations

Before I go on, I need to be very transparent with you. As I began noodling around the idea of listing and sharing leadership lessons I’ve learned through my adversities, I was more than a little conflicted; I’m nothing special and I’ve certainly seen people face far more difficult circumstances than me. One of the ways I “test” ideas like this is to bounce the broad concept around in conversation with the folks I interact with daily. The first just happened to be with a gentleman I’ve gotten to know who has thrived through adversity most people could never imagine - me included. As we talked, he shared how he had recently seen a tremendous uptick in the number of requests for special accommodations from those he provides service for, accommodations that he flat out refuses when offered to him. Our discussion went directly to the tremendous variances in what can be seen as adversity, all depending on who’s holding the lens. While the details of any given circumstance can’t be written off, what often matters the most is whether there’s ever a lesson pulled from it.

Soon after and in a chat with a gentleman I had met for the very first time, I referenced Hill’s quote from Think and Grow Rich, ““Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.” Our conversation was around leadership as a whole rather than just this idea of finding the leadership lesson in each adversity, but later that same night he emailed me a list of eleven leadership attributes he had pulled from the book - specifically related to earning leadership through adversity - many years prior. 

• Unwavering courage based upon knowledge of self, and one’s occupation
• Self-control
• A keen sense of justice
• Definiteness of decision
• Definiteness of plans
• The habit of doing  more than paid for
• A pleasing personality
• Sympathy and understanding
• Mastery of detail
• Willingness to assume full responsibility
• Cooperation

We’ll work through each in detail as we move on.

My intent is never to push my faith through what I share, but I’ve learned that there’s no such thing as coincidence. Meeting Cindy and Terry so close together, especially given the path I was on at that time in my life, was not by chance. And those two completely separate conversations, one with a friend I’ve developed significant respect for over the last few years and the other with someone I had just met, didn’t just happen either. But don’t take my word for it, Gibbs listed that as “Rule 39” (on NCIS). I immediately realized that this idea was a seed I needed to nurture, whether I felt qualified to share it from my personal perspective or not.

While my examples won’t be as extreme as soon, they’re mine. That’s what I’ve got to work with. And I’ll just bet you’ll be able to relate to many of them, even if yours have been slightly different. The connections Cindy and I are able to create when training small groups or speaking with large audiences aren’t through the eloquence of our credentials but based on how similar our experiences are to what they’ve been through. For our purposes here, the same holds true. One bad situation can indeed prepare us for the next but to reap the real harvest from any seed we ever find, we must hone each of the attributes Hill listed.

Before I issue a formal challenge and we start the full process, think about which of those attributes resonates with you right now. How might a current or past bad situation be growing in you? Once you have that in mind, we’ll look at one last thing to consider so you’re prepared to actively harvest through every step of this process.