Stewards, Not Spectators

 How Resiliency Drives the Climb of Leadership 

You don’t overcome challenges by making them smaller, but by making yourself bigger. 
- John C. Maxwell 

When he was 20 years old, a mentor of John C. Maxwell’s told him there are no two consecutive “good” days in a leader’s life. As he sat on stage and addressed the crowd at DLP’s Building Extraordinary Organizations Leadership conference, he shared that at nearly 80 years old, he believes it now more than ever. 

No matter how much you believe in the 20-Mile March, (putting forth consistent effort day in and day out despite prevailing circumstances), it’s not always easy to continue the climb after particularly challenging days or seasons. So what gets successful leaders to continue going up? 

Resiliency. 

Everything worthwhile is uphill, that’s the truth of it. Leaders not only do what’s hard, they embrace what’s hard. It’s called a daily grind for a reason: it can punish you or polish you and you are in charge of what happens. Resilience leads you to polish. 

Maxwell reminded us that respect is earned on difficult ground, that it’s our actions that show our leadership, not our words. Nothing shows the capability of leadership like what you do during difficult times; it’s crisis that reveals the difference between those who are playing leaders and those who are true leaders. 

Resilient Leaders Commit to the Mission First

Resilience also never allows excuses. Maxwell says the best excuse we have is the worst excuse we have, because we believe it. The minute you believe an excuse, you’ll never have what you want.

After falling victim to an insider attack during his 2013 deployment to Afghanistan, Green Beret Nick Lavery had every excuse to not return to combat. Twelve of his friends died that day, eight others were wounded, and Nick’s leg was shattered by a PK machine gun shot at him from just 30 feet away. As he assessed his own situation, he was certain he would die. 

Over the next two hours, he went in and out of consciousness until he was brought to the trauma team. His vitals were tanking, he was out of blood, and the team determined they couldn’t do anything more for him. He was flown to the next level of care, during which time they realized that he had been given the wrong blood in a transfusion. The medics on board got a radio call that because of that, it would be impossible for Nick to survive this flight—a word that doesn’t exist in the Green Beret lexicon. 

During his keynote Maxwell talked about how resilient people understand that clarity doesn’t come on the front end, it comes in the process. Challenges often stop us because we want clarity, answers, and a clear path forward—but that’s not how it works. If you say you’re not going to do anything until you figure it out, you’ll get no where. You achieve what you need when you start moving. 

And Nick did. 

Over the next year, he underwent 45 surgeries on his leg, removing the infection piece by piece, ultimately fully amputating his wounded leg above the knee. Depsite pressure to take a medical retirement, in 2015 he became the first  Special Forces operator to return to combat as an above-the-knee amputee, still serving our nation to this day. 

The One Book I Return to Every Year

“He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion.”
-2 Samuel 23

It’s easy to overlook this one Bible verse out of over 30,000; such a quick line referencing such tremendous bravery.  But what this verse tells us is unthinkable, I’d venture to say, for nearly all of us. It tells us that the warrior Benaiah made the decision to climb into a pit, with a lion, in the snow, not at anyone’s direction but his own.  

For me, the start of the holiday season is the perfect time to revisit the book, as I reflect on what I’ve accomplished, where I’ve missed the mark, and what I want to do in the year ahead. It’s reinvigorating to be reminded that my most ambitious goals are worth running towards. 

Wenner Family BHAG Progress

Our family's big, hairy, audacious goal (BHAG) is to experience 1,000 extraordinary days in 100 different places before our eldest son, Donny, goes to college.

 We started working towards this goal in May of 2022, so we’re 4 years and 4 months in and right at 471 days as of September 30th. With 4 years and 8 months remaining, we’re right on track to achieve 1,000.