You Can't Control Everything

After hiring your first team, every leader quickly grasps just how much more complex their life becomes. Your schedule is altered. Your priorities are shifted. How you approach daily tasks is different. Where you direct your energies is different. Team leadership is, in many ways, a substantial dose of unavoidable reality – a reality where control is not just in your hands.

They decide. Circumstances decide. You're caught up in the ambitions and requirements of a newcomer, the demands and expectations of an experienced team member, the desire to be close to, to mentor, and to foster your team's growth.

And yes, there is an even more profound sense of vulnerability that envelopes your life: suddenly, you're not just accountable for yourself but for others. Before, your own career was your only concern, maybe even a distant one. Now, that’s your daily focus. You agonize. You wonder. You question. How will this decision or that strategy affect these individuals you've chosen to lead, these valued professionals you're responsible for. What if something goes wrong?!

As a leader, you feel an affinity with the words of those who've navigated life's cruel twists and turns. We are painfully, terrifyingly at the whims of an unpredictable and often unforgiving business world – a world with competition, with sudden market shifts, with economic downturns, with technological advancements, with so much more.

There’s not a simple remedy for this. There’s no consultant with an all-encompassing solution. There is no strategic maneuver or insurance policy that provides absolute protection. All you can really do, like a seasoned captain navigating treacherous waters, is accept your intricate fate–accept it courageously, accept it without bitterness or despair. All you can do, as every great leader must: support them as much as you can, while you can.