Leadership is hard work

Resilience.

It is a quality that every leader must have, and yet none of us, if given other options, would want to cultivate. But if there's one quality it takes to be the one calling the shots and building a business you truly believe in, it is this one.

Because resilience is what carries us forward when we are the ones who have to make the toughest of calls on the hardest of days during the darkest of times.

Being a leader means that we have to be willing to look and lean forward in moments when everyone else wants to step back, step down, or step aside entirely.

By being at the helm, we also take on the mantle of being the bad guy, the one to point to and blame for when things fail, especially when things don't go according to our best-laid plans.

In a moment where so much feels out of our control, where so many are feeling scarce, and where so often all we are hearing about is a recession on the horizon, we as leaders must look inward and ask ourselves:

What will make my company as resilient as I am during these times?

The answers aren't necessarily going to be pretty, and the calls that we will have to make will always be harder than those that aren’t leading companies through moments like this one.

But we as leaders have a paramount responsibility to tell the truth and do the right thing. Even when it feels incredibly hard.

This week, more than most, I want to hear from leaders like me:

What are the tough calls you’ve been having to make in your businesses?

What are the ways in which you’re continuing to move forward in the face of economic obstacles that don't appear to be ending anytime soon?

As a business owner, I've been having to look a lot harder at myself lately and at all the ways in which I've been willing to compromise my own well-being for the sake of those that I serve. In this season, it is my highest hope to surround myself with clients, team members, and partners that step up and show up with a willingness to do incredible work in a world where so many are ready to stop working entirely.

Believe me, I know it would be easiest to step back or sit on the sidelines.

But I've never been one to do the easy thing.

That is why the resilient path is the only one I am willing to take.

- Madeline

I had a blast chatting with Sara Dean on The Shameless Mom Academy.?

Listen in to hear us share:

• My story of having the rug pulled out from under me in my corporate career
• How to assess the cost of staying in a position that’s not working for you
• The power and significance of negotiating and advocating for yourself even if you don’t get what you want
• How to assess if a company is aligned with your core values and if they are actively LIVING their core values vs just plastering them on a wall
• How having to go back to work 2 weeks postpartum fuels my work around parental leave policies
• How to start building a strategy and plan if you want to make a career change or start your own business