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You know what’s the worst thing about this recession?  Okay, okay, there are many ‘worst’ things about this recession, but here’s the worst thing I’m facing right now.

It’s this feeling that no matter what I try, it is not going to make a difference.

The worst thing is not the actual feeling, but that I often catch myself agreeing with this feeling.  I think, ‘what’s the use’ even though I know that this thought, unchecked, will soon lead to a belief of ‘nothing I do will matter’.

And we know how difficult it is to change a belief.

So, how do I fight this feeling?  I think of the people who built the Panama Canal, of how often they faced ‘what’s the use’; of John Stevens, the Chief Engineer, who said, “Do something (even) if it is wrong, for you can correct that, but there is no way to correct nothing.”

Then I get up and I do something... even if it might be wrong.

And if it is wrong, it helps to have a back-up team.  Yes, back-up team, not back-up plan.  Let me explain with a little ‘believe it or not’.

Believe it or not, I used to play rugby in my younger days.  I liked it because whenever I touched the ball, I had fourteen muscled guys backing me up.  If I fumbled a pass or missed a tackle, they stepped in.  Having those fourteen guys made it easier for me to take the gaps that could win the game.  In other words, they gave me the confidence to take the necessary risks to succeed.

I have never heard of a heart attack happening during a game of rugby, but it does seem to happen often on the golf course.  In golf, you’re on your own and the stress is yours alone.  Nobody shares it, nobody backs you up.

Here’s my point.  If you are struggling, please don’t do it on your own.  Going it alone increases your stress and decreases your tolerance for creative risk taking.  Be sensible, ask for help.  Assemble a team to back you up.

Believe it or not, a good back-up team comes with a bonus.  It allows for a little less nose grinding.  In times like these you might think that keeping your nose to the grind stone is the right thing to do.  I no longer think so.

What happens when you keep your nose to the grindstone?  You also keep your head down.  And when you keep your head down you risk not seeing the changes happening around you.  You could be grinding away at what no longer matters.

And the more you grind away at what no longer matters, the bigger the gap between you and the ‘real world’.

As you have no doubt noticed recently, a gap like that can be quite devastating to once proud companies and their still proud ex-leaders.  Many of these leaders are the kind who pride themselves on maintaining what I call the leadership gap.  Let me illustrate by asking a question.

Should leaders be good at what they do or great at what they do?

Be careful, it’s a trick question.  The right answer is... both.

You should be great at what is weak in others but important to the success of your organization.  And you should be good at what you need others to be good at.

By ‘good’ I mean slightly better than them.  Here’s why.  Most of us are not motivated by ‘great’ because we believe that ‘great’ is out of our reach.  But we will aim to be good, even to be better than the leader, because we know that ‘good’ is possible.

The trick is never to make your leadership gap so big that no one can follow you. Better to lead from only a few steps ahead.  Else you will be admired from afar by people who are no longer followers because they are stuck where you left them behind.

(Leaving them stuck is no way to lead them.  Here’s a better way - click to help them get beyond stuck.)

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 Unless otherwise attributed, all material is written and edited by James Henry McIntosh. © 2009 James Henry McIntosh.  All rights reserved.