"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again this time more intelligently" - Henry Ford
- Oct 27, 2021
- 2 min read
Flexible Leadership One of the Major Traits that Leaders are aspiring to have is being Flexible. “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” Known today as a business magnate, philanthropist, and social entrepreneur, Henry Ford failed several times: He burned through all the money from his first group of investors without producing a car. Like Henry Ford’s example, seeing the opportunity to grow and approach challenges after failing with a new and intelligent approach is the key to growth but what if we could anticipate the disruption and avoid failure altogether? Being a flexible leader means being able to do this in your mental game, as well as in your approach to leadership and all the challenges that entail. This will help you go to the next level for your organization. Disruptions to your business will come in many shapes and forms. Outside disruptions such as competition, market downturns, and economic instability as well as inside organization disruptions such as cutbacks and missed business targets can be a hefty burden for a leader. "Flexible Leaders identify patterns in their Industry before other people can see them." Recognizing the patterns that can lead to disruptions and then creating solutions are critical. Flexible leaders identify patterns in their industry before other people can see them. The ‘signal’ is often a piece of discordant data that no one else is paying attention to, once you spot it, you begin on the journey to becoming a disruptive jujitsu master. Striving to become masters of disruptive jujitsu is how leaders aspire to handle disruption. Recognizing threatening disruptions, breaking them into their components, selecting those components that can strengthen their organization, and then finding a way to “hijack” these disruptive elements for their competitive advantage. Equally important is to engage your team in the task of prioritizing and interpreting what has become an abundance of conflicting and disorganized information within the disruption. Empowering your team in the search for identifying the nature and direction of these forces, and making them instrumental in guiding your organization to seek the path forward will only reinforce the resilient culture of your business. "Good Leaders know that they can not do it on their own so invest in your team." Good leaders know that they can not do it all on their own so invest in your team and share your insights when you or they first recognize a disruption on the horizon for your business.