The Obstacle is the Way: Building Resilient Teams
By Kevin Stallmo, Sales Director
In the last book I reviewed, The 5 Graces of Life and Leadership by Gary Burnison, I mentioned another great book that took our team to the next level of resilience, The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday. This book was inspired by Marcus Aurelius, one of the greatest emperors of the Roman Empire.
In January of 2020 I introduced this book to our commercial team. Little did I know what was coming would put this philosophy to the test. For two years, the COVID pandemic and other business disruptions would put more obstacles in our way than what we had experienced in a lifetime. The Obstacle is the Way became our rallying cry to work together as a team, to expect obstacles to come at us every day and to get into action mode to address these barriers to success.
The book is divided into three sections describing how we can use obstacles to our advantage: Perception, Action and Will. Real life examples are used in each to illustrate how obstacles are used to build success.
Those whose stories of resilience are highlighted include Thomas Edison, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Steve Jobs, James Stockdale, Amelia Earhart, Ulysses S. Grant and Margret Thacher. As Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel, puts it, "Bad companies are destroyed by crisis; good companies survive them; great companies are inspired by them. Great individuals, like great companies are the same."
I encourage you to grab the book and learn more about the trials, tribulations and triumphs of these iconic figures, but for now, let's focus on Holiday's three pillars to overcome obstacles.
Perception
How to see an opportunity in every disaster and transform that negative situation into an education, a skill set or a fortune. Here are a few things to keep in mind to help us:
- Be objective
- Control our emotions
- Choose to see good in the situation
- Ignore what distracts or limits others
- Place things in perspective
- Stay in the present moment
- Focus on what can be controlled
Action
Action requires courage, not brashness; creative application and not brute force. Our movements and decisions define us. We must be sure to act with deliberation, boldness and persistence. Action is the solution and the cure for our predicament. Therefore, we can always (and only) greet our obstacles with:
- Energy
- Persistence
- A coherent and deliberate process
- Interaction and resilience
- Strategic vision
- Craftiness and savvy
- An eye for opportunity and pivotal movement.
Will
Will is not how bad we want something. In actuality, will has a lot more to do with surrender than strength. True will is quiet humility, resistance and flexibility; the other kind of will is weakness disguised by bluster and ambition. Will must be built with practice and obstacles give us that practice. During the pandemic we had a lot of practice to strengthen our will. I love the metaphor of the arch to describe will: to strengthen an arch you must put weight on it because it binds the stones together and only with tension does it hold weight.
After each obstacle is overcome, we need to prepare to start again because obstacles are never ending. We need to get used to them and embrace them mentally and physically. Prepare for them! This is what life brings us and as we overcome them joy is the result.
The Obstacle is the Way.