Leadership in Difficult Times | Great Struggle of Ukraine
Leadership in Difficult Times | When everything is fine, everyone wants to be a leader, but when disaster strikes, only the most resilient and resilient survive. You’ve probably heard this phrase “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” many times in different contexts.
In 1933, just when one of the greatest crises the world had ever seen, the Great Depression, was taking place, Roosevelt uttered this famous phrase, emphasizing the strengths of the people in the face of this crisis affecting his country and the whole world, reminding the people under his command that the darkest moment of the night was the closest to dawn and he managed to keep people’s motivation alive and fresh.
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Leadership in Difficult Times | Great Struggle of Ukraine
So a true leader isn’t just an ordinary person at the head of any organization, but someone who recognizes people’s fears, stands up for and supports them in difficult times, and most importantly, inspires them.
In order to achieve this, the leader must know how to struggle under all circumstances, and while doing so, he must continue to work for his ideals without losing any motivation and face his good fortune with endurance. I can’t think of anything else that could better define such a leader than the concept of “resilience.”
When we look at the meaning of the word, we see that it means flexibility, the power to heal quickly, adaptation to change and psychological resilience. Due to the challenging expectations imposed by the world (for example, the difficulty and necessity of combating climate change) and uncertainty, this concept has started to appear frequently in recent years. Let us tell you a short story about resilient leadership.
Protagonist of Difficult Times: The Leader
Once upon a time, there were two peoples ruled by the same ideals and living in peace, far from uncertain tomorrows. Time and the winds of change it brought with it separated these two peoples. They looked so much like each other that it was almost impossible for an outsider to tell the difference. One day one of these peoples had to submit to a powerful tyrant, who was so powerful that he did not accept any norms or recognize any rules. Come and go, Tirana coveted the lands of the neighboring people with whom they had lived for a long time and immediately attacked them. The people who were attacked were very scared at first and thought that they were coming to an end. l feel like this at the first time normally.
But no matter how hopeless the situation may seem, their leader, instead of fleeing and hiding or surrendering, tried with all his might to resist the armies of the cruel tyrant and dissuade him from this war, and the whole world was stunned by this event, and when they realized that they could resist not only that cruel tyrant, but all the other tyrannical tyrants, all the peoples of the world united and began to support the people who were attacked in this war by invader.
Leadership in Difficult Times, Volodymyr Zelensky and Struggle of Ukraine!
This unfinished story may have been familiar to you. Yes, this is the story of the peoples of Russia and Ukraine. It was thought that the war, which started last year this month, would end in a few days, that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would leave the country and that the Ukrainian people, like the Russian people, would submit to Vladimir Putin’s rule. Happiness and beautiful tomorrows are always side by side with fear and disasters, what makes a leader a leader is that he knows how to turn on the light with endurance and fortitude in the darkest moments of disaster.
The fact that Zelensky did not leave the helm in a moment of crisis reminds me of the virtuous protagonist in the famous play Hamlet. In a country enveloped by nightmares and ghosts as a result of the rise to power of an evil king, Shakespeare’s Hamlet says, “Time has been turned upside down / Oh my good fortune,” and adds, “So I was born to make this right!”
Today, resilient leadership is one of the things we need most, from the smallest business to the most complex and large organizations of our civilization, such as non-governmental organizations, governments, or international organizations. We need resilient leaders to adapt to the uncertainty and changes brought about by the age we live in. So who is this resilient leader? A resilient leader is empathetic so he feels the fear that surrounds him and is not caught unprepared for it. He maintains his balance without panic and calms the people around him as well. He is not a despot, he encourages the generation of new ideas and gives people purpose.
He is aware of his strengths and weaknesses, is open to criticism and always strives to strengthen his weaknesses, while developing and coaching the people around him and providing them with motivation. He doesn’t want people to follow him blindly, he’s brave, he’s not afraid of innovation, but he takes calculated risks. Since he has a positive mindset, he does not see everything as a risk, immediately recognizes that some moments are important and valuable opportunities, and most importantly, communicates effectively.
So I was born to put this right
Thus, while minimizing misunderstandings in the event of a crisis, he can take action by transferring the decisions he takes quickly in the most accurate way. In addition, thanks to its social intelligence and communication abilities, he can motivate almost everyone.
A truly resilient leader is one who embraces the responsibility he has when time is turned upside down and he faces his ill-fated fortune, who does not run away from it. When he says, “So I was born to put this right!” he knows that he can achieve this not only with the truths and rigid plans he has, but by embracing everyone, that is, without leaving anyone in the clutches of darkness, with the flexible plans he has made and the common purpose he has created. Never walk alone Ukrania, we are together!