Reactive leadership is never optimal
You always get to choose how you react to events.
“Indeed, no one can thwart the purposes of your mind — for they can’t be touched by fire, steel, tyranny, slander, or anything.” — Marcus Aurelius
Marcus is not simply talking about mental fortitude, that your mind should never be broken by fire and steel, etc. Instead, he is reminding us that we have a choice. That choice is to use our minds at all times to decide on the outcomes of the events around us. A modern example is Victor Frankl, who survived the horrors of the holocaust. That space in our minds, between stimulus and response, is where lies our last and ultimate freedom.
To put it simply, we have the opportunity to choose between being reactive (a victim of the events around us) or reactive (the leader you wish to become) Something go to shits on the day of that big release? You have the power and freedom to sit back, learn, remove blame and take calm action (panic and anger will make things worst, but only 150% of the time) Remember that Marcus also said: “What stands in the way becomes the way.” There is nothing you can do about these external events. Things change, bad things happen — that is life. You can either go crazy or take note that this is life and liberate yourself from the attachment to what you cannot control.
originally published on https://www.thetaoofleadership.com
