Failure itself is not a tragedy, however failure to learn from our failures is. The age-old debate whether successful leadership ability is an inherent trait or based on learnable skills has occupied scholars and researchers for years, with good arguments on both sides. Regardless of the evidence presented by both sides, there is no clear-cut winner and there likely will never be one winner – genetics and training are both influencers in determining how to become a great leader. Whether the leader can deal with ambiguity, or the ability to use open systems thinking, they must be able to ride the wave of rhythm in both in addition to having the capacity to learn and the capacity to foster engagement. It’s not easy, however I’ve developed a simple, practical and elegant model in three letters – ABC – to set the tone.
From my earliest days, I learned, honed and adapted my skills as an athlete, as a business professional, an entrepreneur and as a parent of an elite athlete based upon this ABC model before I even realized it – Ability, Balance and Control. To fully understand and appreciate the simplicity of the ABC model, understanding its definition in context and how the application of each dimension reveals strength and opportunities for each leader’s journey. The model manifests itself by leveraging one’s natural, inherent style and learned experiences to overcome, adapt and flex for greater results.
Are you prepared for the realities of today filled with the uncertainty of tomorrow?
Where are you looking to anticipate the next change?
Are you courageous enough to abandon the past results for a direction that may be unfamiliar or uncomfortable?
Having the desire to lead, to face the responsibilities, the challenges and the opportunities to influence others and lead the way is a byproduct of your rhythm in the ability, balance and control. An effective learned skill reveals itself based upon the environment and experiences a leader has personally and professionally lived through regardless of whether the outcome was favorable or not. This desire of zest and enthusiasm to serve and help others achieve their greater potential gives this leader voltage!
Several years ago, a book was published based on decades of real-life, real-world experiences of hundreds of C-suite executives, entrepreneurs and thousands of senior leaders. The system or platform that was founded does not comprise luck, and it’s not about goal setting or execution; it’s not servant leadership in a pretty box, and it’s far more than EQ/IQ and hundreds of other self-help, social media influenced TedX, TikTok, podcast packaged bullshit to sell you something! There’s nothing new under the sun and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something. If you want to read 7 Steps and how leadership has evolved, thank you. Elegant Leaders execute plans with confidence and clarity in a clear, concise and compelling manner dedicated to resolve and to persevere regardless of circumstances seen and unseen. The leader who subscribes to everything in this world happens by a complex mechanism of cause and effect is reactive, weak and borderline narcissistic.
So, I’ll ask you:
- How’s your Ability, Balance and Control to consistently perform at an Elite level?
- What combination of Inherent Characteristics and Learned Skills are in your leadership?
- What Desire for the responsibilities, challenges and opportunities required by senior-level roles exist within you?
- What emotional and cogent Commitment, effort and intent to Persevere when times get tough is within you?
Elegant Leaders know the whole is better than the sum of its parts – the results prove without their leadership a considerably healthier future of the enterprise wouldn’t exist. An Elegant Leader is challenged with understanding how to find freedom, discover your purpose and make a difference in everyone’s life. What I’ve done is take what you do well as a leader and perfect it – and showing you how to do it with great character! What you do as a business owner, an entrepreneur in leading is ‘good enough’. You can replicate the process, and its wisdom will show you how to become great. Elegant Leaders with Voltage have the emotional stamina to not listen to the naysayers, are comfortable with taking risks and are courageous enough to leap forward.
At the very least this article may give you pause to reflect on what’s working and what hasn’t been working. You know what you already do well. Whether your life’s work is $5MM or $150MM, you’re leading people, people who depend on you to lead. You’re already the white balloon. If you want to be the red balloon, then read on. Let’s start off and look at how you organize and interpret data.
How do you ensure you’re prepared for unseen challenges?
What is your understanding of the capacity to adapt to changes?
How resilient are you to future-orient with inadequate or adequate information?
How clean does data need to be for you to formulate a timely decision?
How do you capture and overcome organizational vulnerabilities?
What human tendencies lead to mistakes within your organization?
What is your team doing to mitigate those mistakes or best case anticipate and prevent them?
What I’m proposing is for you to lead with voltage – to accelerate into the curve vs. taking your foot off the gas. This posture is not about resilience and adaptability, and it goes beyond competencies and behavioral norms. You have capacity and capability! The corner office you occupy is isolating and insulating – been there, done that, got the ill-fitting tee shirt and was left for dead in Mexico. What we can do together to get you an exit on your terms at a premium value is why JSP exists. Many of our clients are over 60, some have some gas left in the tank, some have a few games left to play before hanging up the cleats and some just want to ride off into the sunset Joey.
