This ability is a learned skill, and it is a skill that must\nbe developed if the leader is going to garner any sense of optimism among those\nthey seek to influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is not a naive, \u201cdon\u2019t worry be happy\u201d type of mindset.\nRather, it is a crucial ability to see past the troubling circumstances and to\nidentify the potential for positive outcomes that others might miss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leaders develop this skill by:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This week I found myself in my home office, gazing out the\nwindow as yet another day of rain unfolded. The month of May, 2020, has seen\nthe most rainfall in Chicago\u2019s recorded history. In the 150 years that such\nrecords have been kept, never has as much rain fallen in this month as we have\nseen this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Day after day of relentless rain has simply added to the\ngrowing sense of despair that COVID-19 and 10 weeks of social distancing had\nseemingly imposed on our community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But as I looked out the window, it wasn\u2019t the low, gray\ncloud cover nor the rainfall itself that caught my attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, I was captivated by how lush and green everything\nlooked. \u201cI don\u2019t think I have ever seen everything looking so healthy and green\nas it is right now\u201d, I found myself thinking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The \u201clens of possibilities\u201d had caused my vision to look\nbeyond the rain, and to see the green.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a world dominated by the grim realities of COVID-19 and\nthe resultant economic hardships, it is easy and understandable for leaders to succumb\nto a sense of pessimism. Leaders are under enormous pressure in this season,\nand maintaining a sense of hopeful optimism can seem unrealistic at best, and\nfoolish at worst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But as a leader, you must continue to hone your ability to\nsee past the troubling circumstances, and to instead see the possibilities that\nmight lie just beneath the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those you influence are depending on you to maintain your\noptimism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So learn to look beyond the rain. Learn to see the green.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Effective leaders see the world through the lens of possibilities. This ability is a learned skill, and it is a skill that must be developed if the leader is going to garner any sense of optimism among those they seek to influence. It is not a naive, \u201cdon\u2019t worry be happy\u201d type of mindset. Rather,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6856,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[478,577,1027,7,1019,581,584],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-focus","category-habits","category-leadership","category-perspective","category-self-assessment","category-vision-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6855"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6858,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6855\/revisions\/6858"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}