Much of my leadership writing and guidance centers on the importance of awareness and choice. To become the leaders we have the potential to be, we need to be aware of the leadership opportunities we face, and we must choose to act on them. Easy, right? Obviously not, or we wouldn’t be investing so much time and money on books, seminars, coaching, consulting. . . .
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of ‘If-’ by Rudyard Kipling. His words remain relevant and his advice endures. As you read the poem, consider the power and the wisdom it conveys. Now think about how to use the lessons that it offers.
Patience is a virtue. This pearl of wisdom has been a bone in the throat of even the most patient leader. Patience is an easy thing to talk about, but it is extremely difficult to practice. Webster’s defines patience as, “the quality of being capable of bearing affliction calmly.” Patience is the third attribute Rudyard Kipling described in the poem ‘If-:’ If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Most of us think of patience as a construct of time, but Kipling was addressing the broader definition – enduring difficulty and hardship while awaiting the appropriate opportunity to act. He is also referring to the patience required to bear the nagging and sniping that often accompanies a decision to wait.
We often hear leaders described as having character. What exactly do we mean by character, and why does it matter? The fact is that character can be extremely discomforting to discuss. The challenge is that character is rooted in very personal (and often polarizing) subjects – values and beliefs. It is easy to come across as either self-righteous or irresolute. That said, character is an essential to leadership attribute.
In December, I posed two questions in this blog. First, “What leadership advice could a 21st-century leader, possibly get (or want) from a 19th-century poem?” and “What can an Information Age leader learn from a Victorian Age poem?” That post began to explore the relevance of Kipling’s ‘If-’ for today’s leaders. ‘If-’ describes a path leaders may choose to follow. Each of the poem’s sixteen couplets describes an essential leadership attribute.