When Al Gore ran for president, he was often referred to as stoic. And not as a compliment. So this may sound odd to read, but stoicism — the endurance of pain or hardship without the display of feelings and without complaint — can help us all be better leaders.
As the year began, I made it a goal to learn about and understand stoicism. Don’t worry: I am neither losing my mind (I don’t think) nor having a crisis of faith. But I did read some things that made me think I should understand stoicism. So I took a course and read a few books. I learned a lot.
For instance, being a learner is at the heart of stoicism. At Correct Craft, we embrace the idea of being a learner, believing there are many new ideas to discover that will make us better. Learning not only helps us improve, it brings excitement, energy and endorphins that are great for team-building. I am convinced that our team’s desire to improve makes us much better and significantly enhances our performance.
More important, stoicism encourages us to use what we learn for societal good, and to live an ethical life. It sounds a lot like ideas we talk about at Correct Craft all the time, what we call Making Life Better.
Other concepts related to stoicism include making decisions based on logic, not emotion. Often, people view stoics as cold or emotionless, but that is inaccurate. Stoicism does not suggest that we eliminate emotions; it helps us manage them.
When a leader is emotionally hijacked, it can create a false sense of clarity or rightness that is dangerous. Even though they feel very right, emotionally hijacked leaders are usually wrong. I heard a friend say recently, “If you are feeling, you aren’t thinking.”
There is much research that supports this. In his book Thinking, Fast and Slow, Nobel Prize-winner Daniel Kahneman writes about the importance of slowing down long enough to allow our logical brain to make decisions. This is a key tenet of stoicism.
Managing our emotions can be difficult, especially if we are wired to be emotional. However, managing emotions is an important part of being a great leader. Leaders who want to improve in this area would be wise to start with Daniel Goleman’s book Emotional Intelligence.
In addition, leaders should focus on what they can control. Readers of Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People understand the importance of focusing on what they can affect, and ignoring what they cannot. While I am far from perfect, this thinking is integral to my leadership philosophy and time-management strategy. People are often surprised when I say I won’t worry about a situation I can’t control. Embracing this mindset saves me a lot of time and emotional energy.
Executive coaching is beginning to fill up more of my schedule as our company grows and I delegate key responsibilities. Recently, one of the people I coach was in a challenging situation, fretting about what happened and why someone else failed. I told him he could not change the past, and recommended that he focus on what he could control. Use your energy in better ways.
Another thing I learned is to be unoffendable. When someone lets you down, offends you or does something you believe is dumb, don’t be surprised; understand that people do dumb things. Resist the urge to judge. Accept what has happened and react only to the extent that you can control some part of the situation. If you need help with this, check out my friend Brant Hansen’s book Unoffendable.
And understand the power of framing. Every situation can be viewed from different perspectives. Our team calls it the beach ball effect: If you are on the orange panel of the beach ball, you see a situation as orange, while those on the blue panel see the situation as blue. Understanding that there are different ways to see the same situation is important, because how we choose to view events significantly affects how we deal with them. Stoics tend to take a more optimistic perspective, and a lot of research has identified optimism as the most valuable perspective.
Finally, embrace challenges as an opportunity. Marcus Aurelius, a Roman emperor, was a famous stoic and the most powerful person on the planet. He wrote in Meditations that “the obstacle is the way.” While most people see an obstacle and turn away, or at least get discouraged, the most influential people embrace the obstacle and find a way to use it to their advantage. We continually face obstacles; viewing them as opportunities is both life- and career-changing, in a good way.
History provides us with many beneficial lessons if we are willing to be a learner. Stoicism is no exception; the principles here can make any of us a better leader.
And in case you’re wondering, stoic leaders can have fun. Lots of it. Check back next month to learn about “the laughing leader.”
Bill Yeargin is president and CEO of Correct Craft and has authored five books, including the best-seller Education of a CEO.
This article was originally published in the May 2023 issue.
