I generally think of myself as a decent person. You may think the same thing of yourself. I know why we think this way, as there are many reasons.
We have manners that we use most of the time.
We are willing to help.
We have completed our fair share of learning.
We aren’t actively hurting people (that we know of).
We contribute to society in largely positive ways.
But, there are some moments when I’m not a decent person. It’s when I’m in a hurry.
I could be running late to an appointment, or frantically trying to complete a task before a deadline. Whatever it is that is causing me to hurry, one thing is constant: I’m an absolute bear.
I snap. I glare. I yell. I pout. I throw an adult tantrum.
Anyone with me?
Part 1 of this series talked about one reason for the leadership crisis we find ourselves in (https://www.withleadership.co/post/why-we-have-a-leadership-crisis-part-1), which is not building our internal spirit, our character. The fact we are in a leadership crisis isn’t only because of the lack of intentional, daily character building of our leaders (and all of us), it’s also because we don’t naturally live our lives in ways that good leadership necessitates.
Creating the habits and behaviors that are required by good leadership goes against the grain of our hurried and harried lives.
Our natural inclination is to stuff everything we possibly can into our days, feel important while being busy, and hurry while doing it.
Hurry is how our world operates.
Hurry, however, brings burnout, exhaustion, and breakdowns.
Burnout is everywhere.
Mental exhaustion reigns.
Physical breakdown seems around every corner.
The elephant in the room is that hurry is the enemy of good leadership, but we don’t seem to know how to do anything but hurry.
Our culture expects busyness.
Good leadership demands time.
It is countercultural to be a good leader.
That’s why it’s hard. That’s another reason why we find ourselves in a leadership crisis.
Time is needed to:
Build trust
Learn the system
Build relationships
Learn about your people
Learn about yourself
Reflect and gain wisdom
Think and ponder
All these are foundational to good leadership because it gives you the ability to be WITH. And all these things move at a different pace - they move slowly. Glacially slow when compared with how fast we can get answers in a Google search.
Hurry demands all your time and creates anxiety when the things that take time present themselves.
Hurry supersedes slow. Always.
But the good stuff - the important stuff - requires slow.
If you’re in a hurry, by default you are not a good leader.
Read that again.
If you’re in a hurry, by default you are not a good leader.
I know one thing about you: you want to be a good leader. You wouldn’t be reading this if you didn’t.
If you’re living a normal first world life, it’s highly likely you’re tired, burnt out, and hurried.
You know you’re not operating at your best. You need to slow down. Don’t take it from me, take it from the growing mountain of evidence that goes back to the 1950s and earlier (thank you Dr. Meyer Friedman).
Take a moment, think about one thing you are hurrying though, and ask yourself how you can slow down and become a better leader.
The world may not understand the benefit, but you and those closest to you will.
Being a good leader requires you to be WITH. You cannot be WITH in a hurry.