Leadership in Action: Pressure Cooking: Real Leaders Thrive When the Chips are Down

SHOWING RESILIENCE

This is where having a vision for getting through the tough times is so important. Many leaders fail to understand that visions are equally as important, if not more important, during turbulent times as during more normal times. Leaders need a vision of how the organization, business unit, or team will deal with the current difficulties and emerge stronger. This type of vision is about organizational resilience, reminding people about what they are good at and what is required from them, and telling a story of how the challenges will be overcome.

The best example of this in my experience of working with leaders in tough times is Ben, the leader of a building materials company experiencing a serious downturn in a rapidly shrinking ...