Leaders: Can You Be Proactive and Patient in Business?

I feel like anyone with a love of sports knows that while patience and proactivity are contrasting forces, having both skills makes you a force to be reckoned with.??

From my POV as an Offensive Lineman, I needed to proactively identify opportunities while being patient enough to execute the play efficiently. This applies to so many other sports and I recently got to thinking about how it applies to business.

Can leaders embody both qualities in a balance? I believe learning to do this is actually one of the most powerful assets an entrepreneur and/or business leader can have.?

Typically, our personality leans toward one skill or the other. When we can identify which one we’re naturally suited to - that’s great. Odds are you have already honed that skill to some degree. Keep at it.

Patience is the cornerstone of leaders who excel at things like strategic planning, relationship building, and resilience. All of these skills help people grow themselves and their businesses very efficiently, making fewer mistakes and recognizing there is no such thing as failure but rather a lesson or challenge to overcome. People with patience understand this is a marathon, not a sprint.

On the other hand, proactive leaders identify opportunities on the cutting edge and thrive on innovating. They’re not thinking much about next year; they’re making the most of right now, taking risks, and reaping the rewards. People who are proactive don’t let issues escalate; they identify a problem and fix it. Things don’t need to be perfect; they need to get done.?

It’s easy to understand why most people lean towards one another. Naturally, having both of these skills is pretty rare. With that said - just as with any skill - you can train both.?

If you are typically proactive, try this:

Strategic Patience: For those who always think ahead, set aside quarterly review points and really, really invest your time and attention into these. Treat them as if they were as important as your emerging ideas. It will take practice, but in time, you will see how looking at what’s worked will better inform the execution of your next best idea.

If you are inherently patient, try this:

Opportunistic Proactivity: For those who prefer planning before executing, similarly, set up those quarterly meetings, but this time, be ready to think outside the box. These meetings aren’t for looking back at data points but for identifying trends and current opportunities, fixing broken things, and stretching your active brain. Practicing agility in this way will make handling stressors easier and make you more prone to see open doors and walk through them more readily. ?

Last but not least, surround yourself with people who have natural talents that differ from yours. You will sharpen your skills faster, and we all know success is a team effort.

What other contrasting skills do you think leaders can benefit from honing? There are so many, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on them. Please reach out any time: [email protected]