[August 30, 2018] There’s an old saying that “It’s never too late to make things right.” And while that is true (and good advice too), there will be times when a leader cannot make things right. However, what they are obligated to do is to focus on what they can do and be on the lookout for the interests of others.
Over and over we hear about how important it is to reverse course when you realize things are going bad. Doing so as quickly as possible is the mark of a good person and an exceptional leader. Here at theLeaderMaker.com, I have noted that leaders can learn from mistakes and make improvements in themselves whenever they make that effort.
But when leaders can no longer make things right, they must still be engaged to rally people to their common goal. We’ve all read about this. In battle, an officer rallies his surviving soldiers to fight again another day. A bankrupt company reduces its staff and workers, pays off its creditors, and starts again.
These are the things good people do in hard times. The 20th Century brought us two world wars, the Great Depression, a number of worldwide financial crises, etc. Today, most of the world is in an economic boom and this was no accident. There were insightful, patient leaders everywhere that had the vision to recover and learned the right lessons. They pushed us to again succeed.
What were those lessons? First, leaders take action immediately; they don’t wait for others to stumble forward. Second, they begin the slow, painful process of convincing those who will help them lead, what to do and when to do it. And third, they personally oversee the people involved, taking care of them and having their backs.
They know there will be setbacks and that is where the leader must be engaged. Anything else shows that the leader is morally deficient in their responsibilities. People will lose trust in confidence in that leader. Oh, by the way, this applies to everyone, not just leaders.
This happens more than we might think.
It’s not just the duty of leaders but every person.
Hey, this is right on target. This just happened to me. My workplace in Dallas Texas just laid off about half the workforce. I understand they are about to do a big expansion but the legacy manufacturing section hasn’t made money in several years and they wanted to cut their losses. Anyway, they only gave us 2 months notice. No severance pay, etc. It took the company VP to personally come down and explain all the details, make sure we got some severance pay, and ensure us we would have first stab at the new jobs. It was bad but he made it better. This is what real leaders do.
Good story, Yusaf. Thanks for sharing. I hope all is okay with you and your family.
Yes, good story. I hope everything turned out well for you.
Best wishes to you and your co-workers.
It is not just the duty of a leader to do what they can to make the situation better (or not as bad0 but also it is their moral status that puts them there for exactly that reason.
I agree. 😉
I’ve had this happen to me many times. Something happened in the family where someone died and no one wanted to take action. I would step into that bad situation and was accused of ‘sucking up’ to the deceased. I don’t know how you do that but someone had to show that the family cared.
This is especially true in the medical field where life and death is always on the edge.
‘It’s never too late’ may not apply well here but it does bring up something important for leaders and something they should never forget. That is, they must always be engaged. They must always be there and cognizant of what is going on. Taking care of people is the number one responsibility of a leader. If you expect to lead people to a common goal, then you must ensure they are with you and taken care of. Otherwise, they will not follow.
Good comment, Janna and emphasizes my point of the importance of good leadership.
I had a cousin who was a nutjob all the way; mental if you know what I mean. He wasn’t so bad that it meant hospitalization but he was more narcissist than anything else. Anyway, he insulted our grandmother to no end and drove the lady to an early grave. That’s when I decided it was time for some backyard ass whoppin (that’s what Gen. Satterfield calls it). Imagine how quickly he decided to be a good guy after that.
A little late in the game for the beating. I suspect however that he more than deserved it.
Good one, Jonnie the Bart. Nearly got my morning coffee to come out my nose, I laughed so hard.
How true! So many times I’ve been in a situation that got out of control (and beyond my abilities or anyone’s abilities); then it was just damage control. Most of that involved making sure people in the organization were not too damaged by it.
Thanks for a good article again, Gen. Satterfield. I am a big fan of your website and of the guest bloggers you have here on occasion.
Good article today and on a topic that I never really thought about. Thanks.
Yes, you said it. How very true. But that doesn’t mean we won’t do our better.
Yep, well said.
🙂 🙂
Good comment.
Thank you for your service and appropriate and early comments.