A client and I were recently discussing a sense of anxiety at the start of the new year. We laughed because the client couldn’t understand the source of the anxiety since the business (and related factors) was beginning the year in a stronger starting position than ever before.
I said, “You’re anxious because the burden to continue to extend the runway further and further always rests on your shoulder. That’s the challenge of leading a business.”
You can have all the business development, marketing, sales, and advancement departments and staff you want. If you’re at the top of the organizational chart, no one else bears the burden you do for extending the runway.
The shorter the runway, the less room for error. You can’t maneuver as quickly and easily, and if you mess up, don’t move fast enough, don’t generate enough lift quickly enough, or similar missteps, you can crash.
The longer the runway, the greater the space for error. You can take some chances, make a few mistakes, take your time accelerating on good efforts, and generate more than enough lift to carry you to your desired height.
The wonderful team members who show up and do good, hard, dedicated work every day may care deeply about the organization’s success…not least for their self-preservation! But they will never fully understand or bear the burden of extending that runway that the leader does.
The challenge is to channel that anxiety into productive efforts to extend the runway: lead generation, prospect meetings, proposals, and contract drafts, and, of course, consistently delivering the highest quality work.
When we do those things well, the runway keeps getting longer. And while the anxiety may never lessen, at least we can chuckle a little about how much margin we’ve created!
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