Facing reality is challenging for leaders. When faced with a difficult situations our natural response is fight, freeze or flight. All of these reactions have disastrous outcomes. Learning to effectively face and respond to new emerging realities is therefore a critical leadership competence. Leaders and leadership teams that fail to face reality risk creating the following dysfunctional outcomes:
The First Job of a Leader is to Face Reality
As humans we seem to have an infinite capacity to live in denial. Whilst denial is a commonly used coping mechanism, it’s deadly for leaders. Surprisingly, it’s not uncommon to find leaders living in denial, failing to face a threatening shift in reality, a changing marketplace or changing customer expectations. Unfortunately many leaders ignore or deny their new reality, hoping the it will somehow disappear or that someone will come up with a magical solution.