As leaders, we are constantly coaching, teaching, and influencing those whom we are privileged to lead. Leadership is very serious business! Your leadership will have a long-lasting positive or negative impact on each person and each organization you lead.
We really don’t have a choice. If you are a leader—and everyone is a leader—you are either positively, or negatively, impacting those you influence and lead.
One of the most important and impactful ways you affect those you lead is how you coach, teach, and influence relative to problems.
In chapter 9 of his latest book titled Sometimes You Win – Sometimes You Learn, John Maxwell writes:
“A problem isn’t really a problem unless you allow it to be a problem. A problem is really an opportunity. If you can see it that way, then every time you face a problem, you will realize that you’re really faced with an opportunity. At the least, it’s an opportunity to learn. But it could become even more if you pursue solving it with the right attitude.”
Each day you are constantly coaching, teaching by example, and influencing those you lead relative to how they should most effectively approach, deal with, and solve problems. Your leadership relative to problems, to a very large extent, sets the tone for the culture and success—or lack thereof—of your organization.
As a leader, are you teaching and daily exemplifying through your decisions and behavior that “A problem isn’t really a problem unless you allow it to be a problem?”
A problem is really an opportunity! Think of the impact of leading and living this philosophy on a daily basis. “From this point forward, we will approach every problem as an opportunity.” Now there is the foundation for a truly inspirational and successful leader! And, for a truly exceptional and successful organization!
