In Praise of Hardship

Danita Bye

Defining Business and Sales Leadership in Terms of Adversity

Much is written about the “how” of business and sales leadership – how to be more courageous in your decisions, how to be more tenacious, how to see that your vision is faithfully replicated in the minds of those who follow you. It’s all critical stuff, and it all defines various aspects of creating a powerful leadership culture, but it doesn’t really reach down into the taproot of what leadership is all about. Call it the “why” of leadership, the core element from which all the others branch out and to my mind the key to what real leadership is all about.

That key is adversity. You might call it low sales figures; or poor morale. Or competition that won’t rest until it drives you into the ground. But generically speaking, it’s all adversity. It’s why you lead. In fact, like the Sequoia, the world’s tallest tree, it defines you. And without it, you wouldn’t exist, at least not as a leader.

A Sequoia Tree’s Answer to Fire…

Being a Sequoia is not for the fainthearted. Despite a full-grown height that rivals man-made skyscrapers, you’re hollow underneath. Your roots are only about as thick as a human thumb and lie just inches under the soil. Because you thirst for water to the tune of 500 gallons per day, you must supplement seasonal rainfall with the moisture from fog. When you’re young, you’re prey to animals and the whims of the weather, and many of you won’t survive 20 years. Worst of all, you’ll never see the sun, never have access to nutrient-filled soil, and never germinate in the first place unless you’re touched by fire.

Fire is the genesis of the Sequoia. Lightning-instigated flames release seeds from their olive-sized cones, expose the soil they need to feed upon, and clear the canopy so that life-giving sunlight can reach the budding giants. And only by enduring the fire, channeling its destructive force into creative growth, can the Sequoia rise up and stand with its crown in the clouds for thousands of years.

… a Business and Sales Leader’s Answer to Adversity

Business adversity is your fire. It’s the inferno where leadership is born. It’s the blaze in which mature leadership burns bright. It’s the reason your leadership is so desperately needed. Without it, you’re nothing more than the potential for greatness. But when you’re touched by fire, the seeds of leadership can take root, grow, and remain upright in the face of almost any calamity.

The trick for a business leader, then, is not to avoid adversity — as so many spend so much time doing — but rather to burn without being consumed. If you were a Sequoia, your spongy, two-foot thick bark would char and harden when the fires rage, becoming a heat shield that allows you to continue to grow and shelter those around you, who then take root and develop in your shadow. In turn, those seedlings you nurture become part of the vast, interlocking network of small, shallow roots that allow all of you to stand strong together as a unified organizational culture, whatever the wind blows your way.

Real Leadership Burns Bright in Adversity’s Flames

Author Paul G. Stoltz calls this hardy, uncomplaining response to hardship the “adversity quotient.” In his book, Adversity Quotient: Turning Obstacles into Opportunities, Stoltz says, “If we welcome adversity rather than shrink from it, we raise our AQ – and set in motion a virtuous cycle. High AQ translates into resilience, hardiness, and good health.”

To that, I’d add that this welcoming acceptance of the fire of adversity sparks the latent leadership tendencies that lie deep in those who follow us. Simply put, it’s leading by example, and it’s crucial to creating sales teams that take market share even when markets are hard. In fact, teams inspired to deal with adversity in this way often are at their best when the task before them is the most daunting they’ve yet faced. More than that, by gaining strength from hardship, they reinforce a root system that keeps the entire organization, including its leader, standing tall while others topple to the ground.

Take the example of a company I know which sells hardware and services to banks – arguably a sector that’s especially hard hit by the current recession. The leaders of this firm could have let this fire burn them to cinders, taking the organization with them. While their competition “hunkered down” and waited out the firestorm, these leaders waded into it. They embraced the flames, using adversity’s energy to initiate penetrating market research. By doing that, they gained a deeper understanding of their key clients’ and prospects’ strategies for moving forward in the next three to five years. Rather than reacting to adversity with fear, this business looked into the fire, learned how it changed the business landscape, and used it to seed solutions to their problems.

Solutions in hand, this company’s leader hardened his determination to implement them, come what may. Like the Sequoia, he toughened up his entire organization so that it could brave the fire’s heat while turning its light to advantage. He ran his business by example, showing those he leads that urgent action was required to seize the market share this golden opportunity offered. He maintained momentum and modeled commitment by his unwillingness to accept excuses, often asking “What would you do differently if you couldn’t use that excuse?” He used the fire of adversity to spark creativity and innovation.

Finally, just as the Sequoia uses fire to uncover the soil its seeds need to grow and burn away the overgrowth that stands between them and the sun, this company made the most of this opportunity to gain deeper and broader access to clients, using a major account strategy plan for each of its top 10 accounts and reinforcing relationships with existing accounts.

Welcome Adversity. Welcome Success.

Without adversity, this company’s culture wouldn’t be as strong and mutually supportive as it is. It wouldn’t be as prepared for the next conflagration as it is. Its relationships with clients wouldn’t be as profitable as they are.

In short, it wouldn’t be the company it is and wouldn’t rise to its true heights without adversity.

These days, the economic and competitive blaze is intense. Take the wrong attitude, accept the notion that adversity is something to shrink from, and you’ll be consumed where you stand. Instead, value adversity. Be glad of it. Like the mighty Sequoia, use it to strengthen your leadership abilities, bring light to budding leaders in your organization, and lay bare the opportunities that surround you on every side.

Bio: Danita Bye

Nationally recognized sales management and leadership expert Danita Bye has built her reputation on building and inspiring intentional, no excuse, high-performance sales teams that deliver bottom line results. With her unique Fortune-100 turned-entrepreneur perspective, Danita helps CEOs and company presidents take their national and international businesses to the next level. Her excuse-free approach to sales management, combined with her leadership acumen, enables sales staff and sales management to increase sales, boost profitability and create predictable revenue streams, all while reducing sales costs.

As a 10-year veteran of the Xerox Corporation, Danita consistently achieved award winning sales performance before leaving Xerox to become an equity partner and national sales manager for Minneapolis-based Micro-Tech Hearing Instruments, where she increased annual revenues from $300,000 to $10 million in just seven years. Danita has authored articles in Upsize Magazine, The Hearing Review, the Star Tribune, and Business Journal, where she was recently honored as one of the its Top 25 Women to Watch. Danita also featured as a guest on “The Ruthless Entrepreneur television show” which will begin airing on Oxogen Network in 2010. Her new book, Sales Management in the No Excuse Zone, is due for release in 2010.

Danita can be contacted at Danita@SalesGrowthSpecialists.com or 612-267-3320