Past Challenges Prepare Leaders

Shawnee Love   •  
April 17, 2015

I was recently reading an article which wrapped up with this English proverb:

A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor

It struck me as particularly fitting when hiring for leadership positions.  People who have worked their careers in organizations with systems and processes all built, customers already in the pipeline, products and services already created and honed, people hired, etc. haven’t yet been tested.  However, it is in the testing that we develop our skills and confidence in our abilities to handle the tough things that the world tosses at us.

Look to high performance sports and this lesson is all around us.  We train our muscles to the point of fatigue, we plan and discuss strategies until they are rote, and we practice moves and plays to the point that we can do them in our sleep (and do).  Losses against better competitors are replayed and analyzed until we know what we would have done differently, and then we practice until we can do it.

However, the only practice you get in the business leadership world is doing it.  So if you are hiring for a key leadership position and need someone to help your organization meet upcoming challenges (e.g., grow or change), then it is best to find someone who has been tried before.  If s/he has succeeded on any of the previous tries, even better but don’t discount someone who has tried and failed.  S/he made those mistakes on someone else’s dime and as long as the replay analysis has resulted in learning, s/he will likely be a better choice than someone leaving a cushy job who’s never been tested by stormy seas.