Our Obsession with Simplicity
Everybody loves to read ‘5 Tips to Make Priority-Setting a Breeze.’ It for sure sounds like more fun than a blog titled ‘How To Complicate Project Management.’
But here’s the catch: labeling everything as ‘easy’ will lead to self-deception.
When my team and I asked hundreds of professional leaders if they had received substantial leadership training before starting to lead, only a meagre 6% answered ‘yes’ to that question. A staggering 94% of us dove headfirst into leadership with no, or minimal, preparation.
And yes, I was very much part of those 94% myself 😬
That same approach would be unimaginable for open-heart surgeons or air traffic controllers. Your hairdresser received more training than the average manager.
So, let’s play a little game of ‘devil’s advocate.’
Embrace the Suck
- Having realistic expectations about how hard leadership is, will greatly reduce the risk of terrible disappointment when things don’t fall into place magically.
- Pursuing books, training courses, coaches and mastermind groups can be invaluable in guiding you through the treacherous terrain of leading other people.
- You can let go of your guilt. If being a leader is exceptionally hard, then, of course you made mistakes. You will probably make some more! Just like me, and every other leader on earth.
- You can fuel your hope that things will improve dramatically when you’ll discover and try out new techniques and tools, that you don’t know yet.
Most entrepreneurs are creative, resilient, and intensely stubborn. After all, they’ve learned how to solve most problems by themselves.
Often by working even harder.
So, they’ll keep believing that things will get better, all while enduring 80-hour workweeks, sleepless nights, and significant stress in their life at home.
No, leadership is not easy at all.
Actually, good leadership is exceptionally hard.