Sitting In The Mud

Leadership can be genuinely brutal.

Part of the work I do is sitting with someone through the really hard part.

I call it the mud. The stretch where nothing seems to be shifting, uncertainty is rife, risks are high, and when it could honestly go either way.

I've been reflecting on this a lot lately. I have clients right now who are in the thick of it, or who have just emerged from it.

Watching what they've navigated has reminded me why this work means so much to me.

One person has shown a level of emotional intelligence and patience through a level of complexity that I've rarely seen.

Another is on the edge of something big where all their persistent hard work is finally going to pay off.

Another is preparing for significant organisational change and weighty decisions.

What I see all the time is that the highs and the lows in leadership can turn on a dime. One week you're in the mud. The next, you're out of it and on a high.

I feel extremely privileged to be there through the hard part, it makes celebrating the highs together incredibly rewarding.

This is why I do what I do.

It's the moment someone comes through the other side of something hard and realises they were capable of much more than they thought.