INTHEBLACK Mental Health 2021 - Magazine - Page 14
Mental Health and Resilience
B U S I N E S S S M A R T // L E A D E R S H I P
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“THOSE WHO HELD TO THEIR PURPOSE AND DIDN'T LOSE SIGHT OF THEIR ‘WHY’ WERE
THE ONES WHO WERE ABLE TO SUSTAIN THROUGH THIS WHOLE PERIOD. THEY HAD
CLARITY ON WHAT THEY NEEDED TO DO AND CLARITY ON WHY THEY WERE DOING IT.”
JOHN KARAGOUNIS, THE CEO CIRCLE
LEADING OTHERS THROUGH THE FEAR
When the outside world cannot provide us
with the certainty we seek, we should look
for it within, “grounding ourselves in ‘selfcertainty’,” says Warrell.
“I invite leaders to reflect on who they
want to be as a leader – decisive, optimistic,
calm, inspiring, compassionate, brave?
Getting clarity about who you want to be for
those in your charge is a vital foundation for
good leadership.
“Emotions are contagious – for better or
worse,” says Warrell, “and leaders need to
harness the power of emotional contagion
in positive ways.”
People look to leaders, often with a
critical eye, parsing for inconsistencies and
weaknesses. This is why, Warrell argues,
leaders act as an “emotional barometer”,
14 ITB October 2021
especially in times of crisis. “People want to
count on the person in charge to make good
quality decisions under pressure. They know
those in charge can’t predict or control the
future, but when they can trust that they are
at least in control of themselves, capable of
making sound choices that serve the best
interests of those in their charge, it provides
a form of psychological safety net.”
In the world of investing, American
business tycoon and philanthropist Warren
Buffett has called fear and greed “supercontagious diseases”.
Similarly, Warrell says anxiety can run
rampant through an organisation if the
leadership group appears spooked.
“Fear is probably the most contagious
emotion of all. Left unchecked, it will filter
down through the organisation, driving
smart, capable people to make over-cautious,
short-sighted decisions. So, leaders have to act
with the courage, the calm and the deliberate
optimism they want to instil in others.”
Karagounis says one thing he has learned
from watching business leaders operating
under extreme stress is that leaders must display
“excessive decisiveness”, which is the ability to
take action and move forward with enough
velocity to carry people with them.
Without discounting the need for due
diligence and rational and reasonable
analysis, he says leaders who provide their
teams with a clear and distinct vision of
where they are going, and a road map to get
there, create a sense of momentum as well as
purpose within an organisation.
“Excessive decisiveness is about
accelerating the way we make decisions and