Page 239 - How to Create a Winning Organization

Adversity Is Your Asset

DAD’S RESPONSE BECAME MY MODEL 221
When my father, Joshua, lost our farm because contaminated hog
vaccine killed the animals, he blamed neither fate nor the merchant
who sold the serum. Even though Dad had been hit hard by mis-
fortune, he was resolute, optimistic, and uncomplaining.
As difficult as it was, he left the land he loved, moved to Mar-
tinsville, and found work in a sanitarium to support his family. Not
oncedidIhearhimexpressanger,bitterness,ordismayabouthismis-
fortune.Neverdidheenvynorcomparehimselftothosewhoseemed
to have been treated better by the fates. Dad took what life offered
and made the very best of it.This was a powerful example to me.
When things go bad for reasons beyond your control, it is
tempting to first blame and then embrace fate as the cause of your
failure. An effective leader ignores the temptation—the easy
excuse—of using bad luck to become disheartened, disillusioned,
and defeatist.
Adversity can make us stronger, smarter, better, tougher. Blaming
your troubles on bad luck makes you weaker. Most worthwhile
things in the competitive world come wrapped in adversity. Good
leaders understand this and are inclined to see the truth in this verse:

Looking back it seems to me,
All the grief that had to be.
Left me when the pain was o’er,
Stronger than I was before.
—Anon.