Resilience in the force........how the leader strikes back

"You can't win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine"

An awesome movie, story of good versus evil and an iconic quote. In this one line Obi-Wan looks Darth in the eyes and says bring it on. The Jedi have to demonstrate resilience as they deal with a great deal of change and uncertainty. They have their rivals but despite facing volatile, complex and sometimes ambiguous challenges they survive and rise once more............................(which I am sure will be well documented in the movie a year from Disney)

Now there is many a lesson to be learned from Star Wars or at the very least it is a great excuse to watch the movies over and over again but resilience is something I always see in the films. However as great as the old order is, they really missed a trick until Luke came of age. There were a few critical indicators nobody picked up on, key risks mentioned in an article I read by Elle Allison on the resilient leader. Of course she wasn't directly talking star wars and I never understood what she was talking about until I watched all the films again..........again.  I can't say it would have saved the force from the untimely loss of power but in the face of change and crisis there are 5 risk alerts to look out for.

Learning stops - As things started to go wrong for Anakin the last thing he wants is change, so he cuts back on learning. As he spirals out of control he is consumed by the dark side and thinks he knows everything he needs to know. This is a standard leadership mistake but to be a resilient leader you must recognise that responding to change always requires learning. Luke at least had the sense to go back and complete his training.

Blame it on budget cuts - Palpatine had some pretty costly operations what with galactic conquer, fuel costs and not least the cleaning bill for the Stormtroopers uniforms but when faced with downturn the easy option is always to blame it on the economics of running a team........or an empire. A lack of resilience as a leader by the emperor led to some dreadful economic decisions. He found this to his cost when these cuts came home to roost as corners cut in the construction of the Deathstar left a two metre exhaust port exposed to the sharp shooting by "young skywalker". A resilient leader should be aware of the value in everything they do so that if the going gets tough the important things are not damaged by savaging budgets. 

Read the reports - Read the signs. A Resilient leader will analyse reports, data and other feeds of information to help him respond to changing dynamics and indeed spot future trends. Obi-Wan and other members of the council missed some blatantly obvious data conveyed by Anakins changing behaviour. You can't always blame it on teenage angst. A keen eye would have noticed the lack of colour in his wardrobe, strong passion for black, permanent scowl and what about pony tail? I bet you haven't thought about it to now but that pony tail was probably still under Darths helmet and cape !!!

Workload overload - Darth must have had a nightmare of an inbox. eMails from contractors on the Deathstar projects, Union issues over Stormtrooper pay and conditions (although he always seemed to get them to agree to his terms) and to top it all the usual anonymous leadership opinion surveys that HR carried out on him.......as his old mentor used to say "they're not the scores you're looking for". This workload left gaps and he spent more times fighting fires because of a number of initiatives brought on board normally without closing off older ones. Bruch and Menges referred to this as the "acceleration trap" in an article that appeared in Harvard Business Review in 2010. A resilient leader should grab hold of the priorities and learn to let go of those that don't fit with them. 

Celebrating Success - How many parties did you see the Empire throw? Did Darth and Palpatine go for a pint after giving Luke something to think about next time he turns up looking for a fight (they were never going to fall for the old I'm dressed in black that makes me pure dark side). Contrast this with the celebrations when Luke gets back from blowing up the Deathstar or the Ewok village at the end of Return of the Jedi..........not that they need much of an excuse to party. In times of change it is easy to fear the future but the resilient leader avoids this by celebrating the success and learn lessons that could provide current and future challenges with solutions. It doesn't matter if the success is small or large just celebrate and learn from it.

Resilience then is an inside job, You choose it. The resilient leader takes care of things while paying attention to the well being of themselves and others around them. This then helps them to take action. Just like Darth did in Return of the Jedi. He chose to take care of the Emperor despite all of the challenges, change and emotional issues that were going on around him. Choose to be resilient..................search your feelings. it is a skill your looking for

That Learning Dude @LearningXDude