Make Lemonade
“Turning a negative into a positive is an expressway to success.” ~ Robert Evans
Bad things happen. As leaders, we need to guide our people through to the other side.
Don’t be fake-positive and deny the problem. You will lose the respect of your people for either being ignorant or deceptive. Instead, acknowledge the negative while focusing on the solution: “Yeah, we got a real gut-punch today, but we’re going to get through it.”
Motivate and inspire your team by addressing the shortcomings in a make-things-better way. “We’re going to work to make sure something like this never happens again. Here’s how we’re going to fix things…”
Use that fix-time to not just bring things back the way they were—make things better. If the office is flood-damaged, then do an upgrade when rebuilding (in a building that is not in a flood plain). If you have a key person resign, then make sure you train up at least two or three people in those key skills.
When life gives you lemons, you can make lemonade. Or you can put them in the freezer and then chuck frozen lemons at your enemies. There’s often more than one way to turn a negative into a positive.
(image source: https://bsky.app/profile/itistherealjas.bsky.social)