Transcript
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Welcome to the no Bullshit Leadership Podcast. In a world where knowledge has become a commodity, this podcast is designed to give you something more access to the experience of a successful CEO who has already walked the path. So join your host, Martin Moore, who will unlock and bring to life your own leadership experiences and accelerate your journey to leadership excellence.
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Welcome to Moments with Marty, your short, sharp shot of leadership insight to help you to stay on track between our weekly episodes of the no Bullshit Leadership Podcast. When we talk about resilience, one of the most important tools to help you through your darkest times is a decent measure of optimism. I'm not talking about blind or unfounded optimism. I'm talking about pragmatic optimism, which keeps you grounded while enabling you to chart a path forward with confidence and clarity. Way back in episode 107 of no Bullshit Leadership, I spoke about the Stockdale Paradox. The term was coined for Admiral James Stockdale, who spent eight years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. Stockdale was tortured repeatedly and lived through incredible deprivation. But he found a strength of character not just to survive himself, but also to lead many other prisoners to survive that ordeal. How did he do it? Well, to answer this question, let's consider who actually made it out and who didn't. It may surprise you to learn that the ones who didn't make it out were the optimists. They would hope and believe that they'd be out by Christmas, but Christmas would come and go. Then they'd hope and believe that they'd be out by Easter. And guess what? Easter. Well, it would come and go. Then they'd hope that they'd be out by next Christmas, in Stockdale's words. Eventually, they died of a broken heart. The ones who made it out had a totally different mindset. I know, and I completely believe that one day I'm going to get out. But for now, I have to deal with the brutal reality of where I am, and I have to focus on how to survive today. The Stockdale Paradox, as it's called, is a powerful lesson in resilience. As Stockdale says, you must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end, which you can never afford to lose, with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be. So the optimists became discouraged because they were waiting for an external event. It completely changed the mental frame with which they approached each day. Think about this in the context of your own career. For most of us, the horror of a Vietnamese concentration camp is unfathomable. But how can we use this principle to handle the much less challenging problems that face us each day as leaders? The Stockdale Paradox illuminates the way forward. We need faith and belief that we'll get through whatever the problem at hand is. I would even go so far as to call it a healthy dose of fatalism. Instead of worrying, retreating or avoiding, the best leaders step into the problem. They face it and they deal with it head on. They have an unshakeable belief that they will ultimately prevail, which they combine with a razor sharp focus on what needs to be done right now to get beyond their current circumstances. If you can nail this, then even the most challenging of crises won't affect your ability to to lead your team through it. For more depth on this insight, have a listen to episode 107 of the no Bullshit Leadership podcast, Resilience, Faith and Optimism. We'll leave a link in the show Notes I really hope you enjoyed this moment and that gives you that extra little spark to be a no bullsh.