Leadership in Action - Tough Going - Learning from Experience the Hard Way

ROAD TO LEARNING

Hardships are unavoidable; the trick is to make sure that when they do happen they are eventually seen as opportunities to develop resilience and to learn leadership lessons. But how can people make sure that the lessons of hardship are not buried under the trauma?

To maximize the likelihood of learning positive lessons from difficult experiences, people should first accept the reality that during the course of their careers and their lives, hardships will happen. Difficulties are built into the fabric of life. Mistakes are made while learning the ropes in new and challenging assignments, employees sometimes make life difficult for others, and plum assignments go to someone else.

Whenever there is a choice, people must be willing ...