Monday, March 28, 2016

Vengeance Is My Name

Grace
...an act of kindness or courtesy...

Betrayal
The jokes and cliches about corporate life being rife with betrayal are common for a reason. It's true. For those of us that have accepted the burden of leadership...in my case quite passionately...we often end up on the receiving end of a colleague's betrayal.

Am I being overly dramatic? Hell no.

I have personally experienced over and over again the impact of leaders feeling threatened by the real leaders who make bold decisions...lead courageously...and accept risk as part of leading at a world-class level.

For those cowards that only dream of leading on a grand scale, their preferred recourse seems to be attack...spread rumors...and attempt to discredit.

Always in secret...behind the scenes...because that is how corporate cowards behave.

Vengeance
For as long as I can remember I've pushed hard to get ahead. I've taken risk after risk, often bringing much attention (mostly positive) to the leader brand I was building. 

However, a piece of advice I received from a healthcare executive early on has stuck with me:

"No one is going to be excited as you about your rapid success. You are moving quickly...remember that others will feel threatened by your style."

His wise words have helped me up to the present time. When I see leaders taking action on a grand scale the result is often just as he predicted. 

The other leaders on the team who live in a world of CYA and WIIFM can not accept that someone else actually leads effectively. 

When their shameful and unethical attacks begin I have always wanted one thing.

Vengeance. 

How About You
What I learned however, was that the sweetest revenge boils down to one thing:

Success.

I decided I was going to ignore the noise, push myself to keep trying new strategies and tools, and execute far better than those corporate cowards could ever dream of doing.

Grace wins.

Don't fall into the trap of joining the corporate cowards club. Decide instead to lead alone because it is a far more noble path. In fact...it's the only real path for us.

I'd love to hear from you.

No Excuses.

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2 comments:

  1. My mother always told me to strive for "grace" - in my successes, failures, grief, heartache, etc. She told me it was going to be hard...very hard...but that "grace" was truly the best option.

    She was right...it is so very hard! I want vindication, I want validation and I want vengeance! But those are short term gifts. By offering grace, I gain the long term outcome, which is respect.

    Thank you for the reminder, Jay. As always, you are an inspiration.

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  2. Yes Jay, your style is confronting, an affront, but it's also encouraging, motivating, inspiring. You will attract the right people to you through your style. It's not an easy journey as I've discovered. But the alternative is to bear a level of cognitive dissonance, that for me, is untenable. At least for the mid to long term. Keep on writing!

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