Today I’m onto a simple subject, fortitude.
We’re going to have a frank discussion and pull in character, and leadership.
Fortitude is defined as courage in pain or adversity.
Coupled with character, which is the mental and moral strength of an individual, if you have those two things, you are on your way to being unstoppable.
Let’s focus on fortitude however, it’s such an important characteristic for a leader to have. WHY? Because things don’t always go smoothly. We can kid ourselves and say that things are always sunshine and rainbows, but that’s not so.
We’ve all worked with great leaders, and not so good ones. Some have it and some don’t – you get the idea.
Here’s an example. If you are the GM of a store, automotive, retail, toy store, it doesn’t matter – anything that is a retail business. And traffic is “slow” or “off” – do you lose your cool with your staff, yell and just tell them – you need to get more people here!
OR – do you buckle down, inspect what is happening or why it’s happening? Train with your people? Invest yourself into getting traffic back to where it should be?
If you freak out or lose your cool at the first sign that something is going sideways – you won’t remain in leadership for very long. Strong leaders need to play it cool – especially when things don’t go right because that is one of the keys to getting back on course.
When you stay calm and show you care and most importantly, pull up those bootstraps and get to work alongside people – it may be one of the most defining moments you can have in business leadership.
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