Whole Leader

I read an interesting piece this week that said that as humans we have lots of protective mechanisms.

They are the ways that we look at the world around us to make us feel safe, to protect us from harm.

One of them is called Self Serving Bias.

This is when we attribute success to our efforts & our failures to other things.

Imagine an athlete being interviewed after their team has won. “We played great today, tactically spot on, we’d prepared thoroughly and had a brilliant team spirit.”

Same athlete, but after a loss. “The wind was blowing all over the place, the pitch was wet, the ref gave us nothing.”

It’s all about self esteem. Win & it’s all about us, but lose, then it’s all about others.

Or more specifically things out of our control. Like the weather. Someone else. Anything but us.

It made me think about Leadership. Great leaders own everything. The wins & the losses. They own the whole experience.

They know who to thank & who to praise when there is success, either an individual or a team.

But they also know how to stand up & be counted when they lose or things go wrong. They take ownership, don’t blame or search for excuses, they take responsibility & look at how to improve themselves or their team. They won’t allow the team to blame anyone or anything either.

They set the standards not only in victory, but in defeat.

The first American woman to win 3 gold medals at a single games, Wilma Rudolph once said, “Winning is great, sure, but if you’re really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose.”

If you’re a leader, then be one when you lose, not only when you win.

Be a Whole Leader.