Do Leaders Have Enemies?

In this blog you will:

• Try out a new definition of enemy
• Examine internal forces which may block progress
• Decide if you will take action to address any of your own blocks

For years I thought I had no “enemies”. The term was too negative of a concept for me to adopt. When I sit down to think about what challenges I do face, the biggest threats to my success are all internal. My thoughts and my habits. That is where my limitations live and, today, I define an “enemy” as something that simply gets in the way of progress.

I grew up in a small college town and one thing I learned early on is that anything good that would come to me was going to take considerable effort. Early job search efforts demonstrated this well. Most of the part time jobs in town were taken by college students, not high school students like myself. So in those days, I would get dressed up in some khaki pants and a button down and ask to speak with store managers to acquire a paper job application. It was common to fill out dozens of these by hand only to hear nothing back. I did not realize at the time that this was preparing me for the future – asking for things, feeling rejection and not hesitating to charge forward.

During my personal reflections, I have seen that being a leader is not about getting it right and it is not about being liked. These can be enemies on the path to success. Being a leader is about progress. It is about moving forward in the face of difficulty. It is not about being liked. It is not about having all the answers. These are both enemies on the way to progress. Being a leader is about standing in the storm. We cannot protect all people from all things and adversity can build up our teams as well.

Habits can very subtly get in the way of progress. A simple example is that I want to avoid telling people directly what to do as it can limit their creativity. My preference would be to share a high-level concept with a clear “why” embedded in the assignment and then give space to see what comes forward. However, it can be disappointing when the outcome does not align with the vision and work needs to be redone. Thus, the habit of avoiding detailed instructions for assignments is a hard one to manage.

What thoughts and habits are coming forward for you as enemies on the way to progress? Is there anything slowing you down or blocking the way? Take a few moments to consider what you may wish to address with your own leadership.