The Most Important Lesson on Leadership

A Most Important Lesson on Leadership

A soldier was complaining on the way to a battle as he watched his leader, mounted on a big white horse and carrying a gleaming sword and shield.

“I could fight, too, if I had a big horse and a shiny sword and shield. But look at what I have, nothing but this old rusty sword. What can I do with this?”

When the action of battle got heated, the soldier with the rusty sword threw it down, deserted his comrades, and ran away.

What could he do with only a rusty old sword?

Just about that same time, the leader’s horse was struck and killed beneath him, and the leader’s sword and shield flew away. The leader found himself dazed, on the ground, and weaponless while his troops began to give ground and feel their morale sink

While scrambling to his feet and trying to stay alive, the leader saw a rusty sword on the ground. He grabbed it and swung it around, hacked his way through the advancing enemy and rekindled the spirit of his men. He spurred his troops on to a glorious victory with the very sword that the complaining coward had discarded as useless or inadequate.

Read More: 5 Ways to Lead Yourself in Practice

My personal introduction to varsity basketball and the battle of the rusty sword bear similarities. Both involved the failure to see the possibilities—the failure being a blindness or ignorance caused by misplaced focus.

A leader must always look for possibilities and opportunities and never give in to complaining or worrying about conditions or circumstances.

Then always look for ways to turn things around, and never sink into self-pity or get discouraged.

My father was furious when I complained about being hit because the alternative was so obvious to him. “You don’t have to stand there and let yourself get hit,” he had said.

But most people in the midst of some doldrums just don’t have the habit of diligently searching for a way out. I can tell the rusty sword story at one of my basketball programs and still have athletes complaining about being fouled in the gym a half hour later.

“Run, move, don’t let yourself get fouled!”

I can’t emphasize enough that I view this lesson as the most important one I know about leadership, whether you are a player, a coach, a parent, or a fan; and whether you are trying to lead a sports team, some employees, or a group of individuals spread across the nation or planet.

Someone, somewhere, could probably take

your exact same set of circumstances and work wonders.

Certainly all the people around the world, hooked to respirators in hospitals and gasping for breath, would love the opportunity to give it a try. This kind of thought is never far from me. I think it ought to be with every would-be leader. You may not be able to do what you’re trying to do, but it probably is do-able.

—Excerpted from the book, “Running the Show.”

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