Leadership Is Pressurized

Politicians, responsibility, where credit is due.

Photo by Dylan Gillis on Unsplash

Make no mistake, leadership is hard. Why?

Leaders take responsibility for things when they go wrong. When things go right, they point out how credit is due to all the people behind the work.

When you watch the news, politicians (yes, that means Ted Cruz), CEOs, or anyone else, be sure to hold this truth in mind. Also, be sure to hold those leaders accountable to upholding this truth.

Being a leader puts one in a high-pressure position. The job of the leader is to do a few things. First, they’re responsible for making sure their team is healthy and happy. Second, they’re responsible for shaping the values that help guide the decisions of the team.

Ultimately, empathetic leaders who build trust with their teams develop greater “psychological safety,” which is Google’s #1 indicator for high-performance teams.

Here’s what Inc. has to say about Google’s study to uncover this fact.

I want to be so, so clear about this:

Leadership is not about being “tough.”

Leadership is not about having ideas and making your team execute them.

Leadership is not about making excuses when things go wrong.

This distinction is as critical to understand as it’s currently being misunderstood. If you’re interested in performance, this concept is a prerequisite. Performance doesn’t come from whipping the horse to make it go faster, it comes from trust, public accountability, and values.