I Am the Storm: Learning How to be a Better Leader

Psychological strength is key for any leader. Courage to face the storm is a skill that develops with experience.

Today’s guest post is by Oleg Konovalov, author of The Fisherman’s Path to Leadership: 224 Lessons from the Wisdom of Nature.

We are all perfect for today and we are comfortable in it. Yet, how strong we are for tomorrow’s challenges defines our leadership capacity. Thus, leaders must grow all the time to lead a vision that is greater than we are and greater than any organization.

You nurture and develop this competence through five critical elements – the courage to think differently and boldly; constant learning, as you must learn all the time to be able to give people more and manage more complicated tasks; growing your inner excellence as leading is not physical work but psychological; be confident and credible, which is about how you deliver promises to others as without credibility your vision wouldn’t have this magnitude; creating the knowledge bank or ensure a consistent engagement and contribution of all involved in terms of growing your vision strong.

A leader must be good at making him- or herself greater – this allows him or her to think and act in a greater way.

In simple words: I must be a storm myself that is stronger than forthcoming challenges.

Becoming the Storm

I spent some time on the Scottish fishing trawlers in the North Atlantic. We all know about seasickness. In fact, only a few people don’t have it. This is normal for all humans, to a greater or lesser extent, regardless if you are a beginner or an experienced seafarer. The only difference is that the experienced know how to adapt faster.

When we witness such incredible instability during a storm, our body and mind read conflicting signals which leads to reactions causing muscles to contract and nausea. Psychologically, if you are afraid that you will get seasick, you will feel sick. Therefore, take it easy, and keep doing your job.

First, I felt sick when facing a force-five storm. Soon, I adapted to a force-seven storm and felt okay. Then I faced something truly fierce and violent – a force-eleven storm. The small, 38-meter-long trawler fighting against 10-16-meter-high waves that could crush everything. My stomach was somewhere in my throat, my brain begged for a few seconds of stability and calmness, and my body wasn’t mine. I don’t remember feeling it somehow.

The distance from my cabin to the engine room, which usually was traversed in seconds, took about twenty minutes of clinging to every wall, handrail, and whatever I was able to get my hands on.

No one and nothing can help in such a 36-hour survival test. We were days away from the nearest safe harbor. The faces of all my crewmates were of a dollar-green color.

In these situations, everyone turns to God. Yet, before long, I realized something – I enjoyed the storms. After the force-eleven, I loved standing on the deck feeling like I was surfing. I realized that by growing through the storms I become the storm myself.

The main challenge is psychological. Growth is associated with enhanced psychological ability. You are either a leader who stands firm and does what must be done regardless of circumstances or you give up and let others fail.

Success is a port you can only reach through the storm. This rough passage demands two key elements – the ability to grow beyond our own fears and limitations and the ability to change and adapt to fast-changing realities. This is an absolutely essential ability to become a true leader.

Lessons learned:

The leader is responsible for leading people into the future. She defines a vision that is much greater than herself and the organization. No one can lead something so huge without the ability to grow and change.

If a leader fails to conduct his or her duty, the team will fail.

Change will be painful. The growth is rewarded.

No storm lasts forever.

Psychological strength is key for any leader.

If you can challenge yourself, you can withstand any storm.

Courage to face the storm is a skill that develops with experience. It doesn’t make you fearless but makes you experienced.

Dr. Oleg Konovalov is a global thought leader, author, business educator, consultant, and C-suite coach. Oleg is named among the top eight global experts in leadership and shortlisted for the Distinguished Award in Leadership by Thinkers50 and has been named one of the Global 100 Inspirational Leaders 2022, along with Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Oprah Winfrey. Having been named ‘the da Vinci of Visionary Leadership’ by many leading authorities of our time, Oleg is considered #1 in the world in the field of vision and visionary leadership. He is the author of The Fisherman’s Path to Leadership, The Vision Code, Leaderology, and other books.

For more information visit www.olegkonovalov.com.

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