The Cost of Doing the Right Thing (#172)
The Confident Leader
BOOST YOUR LEADERSHIP IN UNCERTAIN TIMES
A friend of mine received an email from an investment group with whom he had made a sizable investment. Before reading the quarterly performance report, he assumed the update was going to be bad news given the current state of the economy. He couldn’t have been more wrong.
“Do the difficult things while they are easy and do great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step”
― Lao Tzu (Chinese philosopher)
This Week’s Edition
It’s simple… just do the next right thing.
Clarify Your Thinking
The fund manager of the investment basically informed the investors that they were changing the original terms of the deal to favor my friend and the other limited partners. The fund manager acknowledged they were going to voluntarily disadvantage themselves in the process.
They explained their decision: “It’s just the right thing to do.” The current economy had skewed the original terms disproportionately benefiting the fund manager. They wanted to rectify that – even though they didn’t have to.
Old Thinking: Even though it’s the right thing to do, it’s going to put me in a worse position. Why would I put myself in that position when I don’t have to?
New Thinking: If I’ve got the power to do the right thing, I should. If not me then who?
Thoughts Lead to Actions
When times are tough and good people are under pressure to survive they’ll do things they never thought they would do, all the while rationalizing their decision. Sometimes our efforts to rationalize produces rational lies. If your not in business to lie to yourself then do the right thing even if…
- It’s uncomfortable.
- It hurts a little bit right now.
- No one expects it.
- No one is watching.
- Others tell you not to do it.
- It takes longer or costs more.
It’s easy to do the right thing when times are good and the money and opportunity are flowing. It’s harder to do the right thing when times are tough, but leaders like us do hard things.
Boost Your Performance
This past week offered us the opportunity to focus on gratitude. We have all been the beneficiary of those who have been generous toward us. Continue to give that generosity life by being generous toward others in your sphere of influence. Perhaps you can go out of your way to do the right thing!
What’s Your Opinion?
Have you seen someone do the right thing even when they didn’t have to? Share it with me at robin.pou@robinpou.com.
If you are going to be a leader, you might as well be a good one. Don’t let doubt count you out. Have a confident week!
Robin Pou, Chief Advisor and Strategist
We live to make bad leadership extinct so forward this newsletter to others who strive to be confident leaders.
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What is “The Confident Leader”?
During the Covid-19 Pandemic, I began a video series called “Panic or Plan?” It was designed to equip leaders to navigate the doubt they experienced and to rise in the confidence they needed to lead during turbulent times. It took off. I then started this newsletter to equip leaders in the same fashion each week for the doubt that crashes across the bow of their leaderSHIP.
