Grace under pressure - a trait required to build a successful army

A quote by Lao Tzu articulates a critical characteristic of a Leader.

"Leadership is the ability to hide panic from others"

In the absence of storms, any captain can sail a boat with ease. It is when nothing is in favor, the captain's mettle gets tested. Like what the famous proverb says - "when the going gets tough, the tough get going".

Think of a time when you were standing at a crossroad and unable to decide, or the entire project was going south, or there was a significant setback in the team. How did you overcome the situation?

You would have gathered all of your experiences, skills, courage, and other strengths to decide the best plan of action and execute. Right?

From my experience, I found that all these attributes are our internal mechanisms to bring the best in us when we look closely. From outside/team members' perspectives, these attributes will be ranked at best to 2nd position in the team.

So, then what is that gets ranked at the top? I experienced it to be “how we approached the situation and the pose we carried while being it”.

If you think of it when a leader is full of anxiety/doubts/question marks in a crisis. What will be the team's confidence level, irrespective of everyone bringing their experiences /skills /courage to the table?

A sad but appropriate example - "COVID-19". This pandemic tested our leaders across the world and gave them a platform to demonstrate their mettle. Think of one or more leaders who impressed you with their ability to navigate the crisis and list the most critical aspect that impressed you.

For me, while remaining glued to limited media platforms, I have my list of favorite world leaders, and in the list, "Jacinda Ardern" remains at the top. And the quote I read somewhere, "Jacinda Ardern is at her best in a crisis", justifies her ranking in my list. 

I am intentionally avoiding the rest of the order :) 

Suppose, if you have been following Jacinda Ardern - the Prime Minister of New Zealand, in that case, if not then I strongly recommend you should, you will see whenever there was a crisis, she leads the country, doing whatever is necessary, and most importantly providing the much required "comfort to its citizens".

It is her calm & measured reaction that always stands out for her. She built the confidence & the morale of the entire nation to pass through all the tough times. And with patience, she built a team that enables her vision & plan.

To summarize, it is her grace that helped everyone to see all the (past) failures serve as a purpose and not something that demotivates.

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in the moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.