Are You in Over Your Head?

If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.

- Frank A. Clark

Bestselling author Bruce Wilkinson shares a story about having lunch with a friend who has a PhD in leadership development. He asked him what he believed to be the most important secret to developing world-class leaders.

The friend put his fork down and said, “Well, it’s not a course, a lecture, or a book,” then picked up his fork and began to eat again. Intrigued by the answer, he was asked to explain.

Wilkinson’s friend added, “The single best way to develop leaders is to take people out of their safe environment and away from the people they know, and throw them into a new arena they know little about. Way over their head, preferably. In fact, the more demanding their challenges, the more pressure and risk they face, the more likely a dynamic leader will emerge.”

You may not face the above mentioned challenge in your place of business but you will face times when you feel you are in over your head. Times of testing come to all leaders and whether you pass or fail the test is often determined not while you are in the middle of the struggle but long before it ever begins.

Shortly after moving from Alaska to California a man took his car to a service station because one of his studded snow tires went flat. The service-station attendant took a long look and said, “Mister, I don’t know how to tell you this, but you have over a hundred nails in your tire!” Like the service-station attendant, you might be overwhelmed and wondering what to do next. Here are three suggested responses when you feel you are in over your head.

Look up. It is easy to feel discouraged when you believe you are in over your head. Being in over your head is not your demise but your beginning. Your present situation may not be of your choosing but it can be your greatest opportunity.

On the brink of some of his greatest accomplishments, fire tore threw a warehouse containing many of Thomas Edison’s most important assets. At 5:30 the next morning, Edison summoned his employees and told them he was rebuilding. Later he explained, “You can always make capital out of disaster. We’ve just cleared out a bunch of old rubbish. We’ll build bigger and better on these ruins.” With that, he rolled up his coat for a pillow, curled up on a table and immediately fell asleep.

When you are in over your head you have a choice. You can hang your head in defeat or look up. When you choose to look up you have taken the first step toward becoming a world-class leader.

Look around. It is when you look around and see that you are not alone you can regain your confidence as a leader. To somehow believe that testing as a leader is peculiar to you is a practice in naivety. Being in over your head is one thing; being alone is another. 

Being in over your head creates a healthy interdependence upon team members. When you lead with humility and recognition that everyone has skin in the game you are within reach of your goals. Navel-gazing prevents you from seeing that you are not alone and that those beside you can help you when you get the focus off yourself.

Look ahead. Charles F. Kettering said, “You can’t have a better tomorrow if you are thinking about yesterday all the time.” World-class leaders embrace the moment and tackle the challenges of today. When you have learned the lessons of the past you can use those experiences to build a better future.

Are you in over your head? Do you feel overwhelmed? Do you feel you are about to sink from the pressure you are under? It is when you look up, look around, and look ahead that you will be empowered with the right balance of inspiration, humility, and vision to become a dynamic leader.

© 2011 Doug Dickerson