12MinuteLeadership

Episode 3: How YOU Can Lead Anyone Part 2 - Resilient Leadership: Seeing Opportunity in the Midst of Crisis | 12MinuteLeadership

• Elise Boggs Morales • Season 1 • Episode 3

Share episode

What defines great leadership when crisis strikes? True resilience isn't just bouncing back—it's emerging stronger and more authentic than before. 

When medical practice owner Jenna discovered her trusted operations person had embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars, she faced a devastating professional and personal betrayal that affected her entire team. The financial loss was substantial, but the breach of trust was even more profound. Rather than getting lost in the trauma, Jenna made a conscious choice about the kind of leader she wanted to be during this crisis.

Through powerful questions and strategic reframing, Jenna transformed what could have been a business-ending disaster into unexpected opportunity. The investigation revealed inefficient systems that needed overhaul. A more skilled family member stepped in to manage finances. Most remarkably, her transparent, vision-focused leadership during crisis forged deeper bonds with her team, who rallied around her despite temporarily shouldering more responsibilities.

Resilience is a leadership muscle that requires intentional strengthening. You might need to build this capacity if you typically respond to challenges with stress and overwhelm, take failure personally rather than seeing it as a learning experience, or believe you must handle difficulties alone. The truth is that resilient leaders acknowledge current realities while inspiring a path forward, remain solution-focused when much seems out of control, and discover opportunities hidden within setbacks.

Ready to strengthen your own resilience? Try writing a letter to your future self, imagining what the version of you on the other side of a current challenge would say. Study leaders who've overcome adversity and borrow their strategies. Remember that resilience isn't about returning to who you were—it's becoming more of who you're meant to be. Subscribe now to continue this leadership journey and discover practical wisdom that transforms your leadership in just 12 minutes each week.


Follow on Instagram: @12minuteleadership

Follow on Instagram: @12minuteleadership

Order my book, Lead Anyone!

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the 12-Minute Leadership Podcast where, in 12 minutes or less, I'll share small things that you can put into immediate practice that will make a big difference in your leadership effectiveness. I'm your host, elise Boggs-Morales leadership professor, consultant and coach. For the last 17 years, I have helped thousands of leaders level up their influence and achieve remarkable results. If you want to trade compliance for true commitment and create your dream team, you are in the right place. Get ready for a quick hit of practical wisdom to increase your team's engagement, inspire top performance and retain your best talent. Ready to level up your influence and get better results. 12 Minutes starts now. Hi everyone Elise here, welcome to episode five how you Can Lead Anyone, part two.

Speaker 1:

If you joined me last week, you know that I'm taking some of my favorite chapters from my recent book and sharing them with you on this podcast. My book is a series of 28 short daily readings and each day's content will take you only minutes to read, but those minutes are packed with practical wisdom and inspiring stories of leaders I've worked with. These stories are one of my favorite parts of each chapter, because these leaders are truly my heroes. While I may serve as a guide, they are really the ones who have to do the hard work, and it's been truly amazing to witness the courage and resolve they have demonstrated, especially during times of crisis. While some leaders may have folded, these leaders somehow came out better on the other side. They were resilient.

Speaker 1:

Resilience is a magnetic quality, and that's the focus of today's episode, taken from day eight of the book, which explores how a crisis doesn't have to break leaders, but can actually reveal the truest, strongest version of who you're meant to be. Reveal the truest, strongest version of who you're meant to be. Think about a crisis you have faced. While difficult at the time, did you later realize that it was the moment you became a stronger leader? Ultimately, resilience is a choice to be built up by an experience rather than being broken down by it or permanently defined by it. And resilience is a muscle that has to be intentionally built and strengthened. You don't build it by reading about it in a book. You build it by walking through challenging situations with a sense of curiosity and resolve to bounce back from setbacks and continue moving forward. And, as leaders, being resilient is especially important because your team is looking to you to give events meaning and show them the way forward. That's why the language you use in crisis also matters, and it sets the tone for how your team is going to follow suit.

Speaker 1:

In times of crisis, resilient leaders acknowledge the current reality and then inspire a way forward. They might say things like this is a challenging moment, but I have faith in our team's ability to navigate these difficulties, versus communicating a sense of overwhelm and talking about worst case scenarios. Even in situations where much may be out of their control, resilient leaders regain a sense of empowerment by being solution-focused, flexible and optimistic. So how do you know if you may need to build your skill set and resilience? Here are three symptoms. One, your first response when your team experiences challenges is stress and overwhelm. Two, you take failure hard instead of seeing it as a learning experience. Three, you assume you must handle challenges on your own instead of getting help and ideas from others.

Speaker 1:

So now I want to switch gears to share the inspiring story of a leader I worked with who epitomizes resilience. My client, jenna, owns a successful medical practice, and during one of our coaching sessions, she shared a horrifying discovery Her operations person had been embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from the business, and not only was this a professional betrayal, but it was also a personal one that affected the entire team, as they all shared a close relationship with this person. The team had worked hard to build a successful practice and now it was clear why the volume of patients didn't match the level of income the practice was bringing in. The loss was also difficult on a practical level. The operations person had been a key employee who oversaw the clinic's back-end systems. The fallout of a betrayal of this magnitude and its impact on the business and team could be overwhelming for any leader.

Speaker 1:

When Jenna told me what happened, I remember pausing, not so much to give her advice but to ask her a series of questions that could help her shift her leadership and rise above the situation she was facing. I asked Jenna what kind of leader she wanted to be as she navigated the situation. I asked her to share what she envisioned a stronger team and a more profitable business could look like a year into the future. I asked her if she felt like she could forecast victory versus defeat to her team in the way that she communicated, and I asked her if she could lead in such a way that this crisis could be viewed as an opportunity to make the business better and help her team grow closer. This exercise was an amazing one to witness, as Jenna began articulating her vision for the business and the leadership philosophy that would get her team there.

Speaker 1:

Just a couple months later, jenna shared some of the unexpected opportunities that had surfaced as a result of the crisis. During the investigation, it was discovered that many of the processes and systems the former operations person had set up had been really inefficient, and so cleaning up these systems would profoundly affect the business. Jenna also found unexpected resources in the form of a family member who offered to take over finances and profit projections. She trusted this person completely, and he was actually exceptionally more skilled than the operations person had been. No matter how things look, crisis always comes with opportunities if you are open to seeing them and willing to search them out. Some are obvious and some are more subtle, but they are there, and if you can position yourself to look for them, that mindset will set you on a path to be resilient.

Speaker 1:

Jenna also wanted to be able to create a closer bond with her team during the crisis, she wanted to be known as both a transparent and caring leader, and she kept that desire front of mind in all her communication and interactions with her team. Jenna's team had to temporarily take on more responsibility, but they were fully committed to Jenna, the patients and the business's success. They all wanted to see the vision Jenna articulated for the future realized, and because the business has a resilient leader like Jenna at the helm, there have already been massive leaps in that vision being realized. So here are three resilience building lessons from Jenna's experience. One reframe the crisis building lessons from Jenna's experience. One reframe the crisis. Jenna imagined the kind of leader she wanted to be. Two communicate the vision. She didn't just lead through the storm, she invited her team into the possibility of what's next and, finally, trust the process. She discovered new strengths, support and systems that wouldn't have surfaced without the crisis. So how can you take these lessons from Jenna's experience and strengthen your own resilience muscle?

Speaker 1:

Here's a question you can reflect on. If you're in a crisis right now, what would the version of you on the other side of it say to you today? Want to take it a step further to you today. Want to take it a step further. Write a letter to your future self. Imagine yourself past the current crisis and settled into a new season of success. Describe exactly what things look like resolved and functioning at their best. And if you're not facing a crisis right now, write how you'll respond when one does come. And here's a bonus idea Pick someone you admire a leader, an artist, an athlete and study how they came through hard times. What made them resilient, what can you borrow? And, in closing, remember that resilience isn't about going back to who you were. It's becoming more of who you're meant to be.

Speaker 1:

So I hope you enjoyed today's episode. Join me next week as I continue this series on how you can lead anyone part three. I'll see you then Like what you heard on today's episode and want to go deeper. Subscribe to this podcast so you never miss an episode. You can also pick up my book podcast so you never miss an episode. You can also pick up my book Lead Anyone on Amazon. Then go to my website to check out ways that we can support your leadership goals. From executive retreats to customized training and coaching, my team of experts will help you level up your leadership and accelerate your results. Go to wwweliseboggscom for more info.