Future-Focused Planning

I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.

-- Wayne Gretzky

That's the power of thinking ahead, of being strategic. It's not just about reacting to the present; it's about anticipating the future. It's about developing the habit of thinking ahead, preparing for challenges before they even appear on your radar.

Certainly, every leader aspires to be influential, to drive significant change, to hold sway over their organization's future. No one wants to be merely a figurehead, or to be seen as the bearer of bad news or the executor of unpopular policies. No one yearns to be at the mercy of external forces or unpredictable market trends. No one would willingly choose such a position.

Leaders don't always have control over the circumstances. Not about the economic climate, not about the shifting tides of customer behavior or industry innovations–not in a world as dynamic as ours. They can't choose their challenges, so they choose instead to focus on how they navigate them. "We didn't choose these obstacles," they might tell their teams, "but we can choose not to add to our difficulties by lamenting them." When a team member recoils from a daunting task, the leader reminds them, "How you approach any problem is how you approach every problem. And if you do it well, it can lead to success, no matter how insurmountable it seems." They refuse to be overwhelmed, refuse to be defeated. "No one has the power to diminish us," they say, "only themselves by being unfair and unsupportive."

Whatever your position, whatever your organization, you can be a leader your team respects, a leader they can look up to. How? By doing your work with dedication. By considering it with gravity. By taking your role as their guide, as their mentor, as their champion with seriousness. The leader who works long hours strategizing and innovating is far more admirable than the superficially successful executive anyway, even if the world compensates these two roles differently. The leader who is committed, who is doing their utmost, who is in command of themselves? The leader who concentrates on what's in their control, who is doing what needs to be done, the right way? That is the true visionary, not the one who has the most impressive title.

You are guiding your team. You are doing what needs to be done. That's enough to earn you the respect of yourself, and the people who matter. You are being the leader your team deserves, you are deserving of the responsibility entrusted to you. Be proud and lead with pride.