What This War is Teaching us About Leadership

So typically on this channel, I don't talk about politics, religion, or anything super divisive outside of business. However, today I felt compelled to talk about the Russian Ukrainian war and what we as business owners can learn from it. So whether you're left or right, or you have different political views, or you don't think the war is good or bad or anything like that, I really. That's not really what I'm talking about. I know most of us have been kind of somewhat burnt out by just getting constant bombardment of news about the war that's happening in Ukraine. However, today I'm talking about what we can learn as business owners from a leadership perspective and how we can lead our businesses better because of what's going on right now. I truly believe that you can learn from the mistakes of others. And so when we see something as horrible as war happening, there should be lessons learned from us as leaders in our businesses, in our communities, in our families, in our churches, figuring out what went wrong and how can we avoid this type of cataclysmic behavior happening on right now. A national and a geopolitical standpoint. But this happens in businesses and families with employees, and this happens all the time. It's just a matter of a different context. So what can we learn from this? There's two major things I want you to take away from what's going on currently in Ukraine. So the first takeaway is that anyone that is in an organization that you are leading, they desire and crave a vision. They desire something to be fighting for. They desire something that is worth fighting for. They desire a goal, a vision, something they are trying to achieve. And if you have not clearly defined that for them, it can be very demoralizing and they potentially won't stay with you long term. Now, on the other side, you have the Ukrainians literally fighting for their livelihood, fighting for their family. You have people that were not in the army that are basically given a gun and they're like, let's go fight now. They don't have the skill, they don't have the experience, but they have one thing. They have passion and a reason why they're fighting. And that makes a very dangerous soldier. Someone that is willing to die, has nothing to lose, and is going to. Is willing to fight and die for what the cause is, and that's freedom, democracy, whatever they are fighting for. And they, they. They're not thinking about their commander. They're not thinking about their president in the time of war. They're thinking about their family, their wife, their Children, their grandparents, they're in a bunker back home. And if they don't fight this war, if they don't win this war, they're dying or they're getting hurt or they're living in a. In a worse society, in their opinion. And so it truly comes down to whether or not your employees, the people you lead, your family organ, has a vision and a goal worth fighting for. That is a very powerful, very, very dangerous organization that can get things done when they have a common goal and vision, and everyone's clear as to why we are fighting. The fog of war is thick. The fog of war gets confusing. The fog of war is extremely straining on the body. And I'm not talking just war. I'm talking about business. When things get hard and in relationships, in business, that can be very, very disconcerting for the body, the mind, and the soul. And so you have to know during those times, why am I going through this? Why am I putting myself through this pain? Why am I putting myself through the financial strain of getting this business off the ground? The second takeaway from this entire war is the leadership of the Ukrainians and their president. Now, what's incredible is that their president actually used to be a comedian prior to being a politician and a president who. But what it shows to me is that it didn't take a career in politics. It did not take years and years of experience in order for him to have the vision, the drive, the passion to be an impactful leader. And so when you look at your business, and if your excuse is, well, my family's never really been in entrepreneurship. I haven't don't come from a lot of money or I don't have a business degree. I never went to college. I'm not very smart. It doesn't matter if you can be an impactful leader. You can lead other individuals that are skilled, that do have experience, that are willing to fight behind you because of the leader that you are, not because of the skills that you have. If you can find people that are willing to fight for the vision you have and not because of the skills or the experience that you have, that is when you become a leader. When his country was being invaded, he did not fall back on, well, I don't have the skills or experience. I've never fought a war. I've never been in the army. I don't have a lot of skills in terms of leadership. He didn't fall back on that. He realized that the vision and the goal and conveying that clearly to his team and his comrades. That was the defining factor of whether he was going to be a successful leader. And in business, it does not matter whether or not you have the skills or experience. You feel like you're adequately equipped to be able to be a business owner. It matters whether or not you're going to clearly and effectively communicate to your team what the vision is. And it's very clear what the vision is for him and to his country. We're gonna protect this country. We're gonna fight, we're gonna die. And if you're gonna come fight on this land, you're gonna see hell. And he made that clear. And furthermore, he backed it up with his actions. It's one thing to have a great speech or have a, you know, a keynote where you have a teleprompter. I truly believe him not having a teleprompter in a lot of his speeches that he's making on the streets of Kiev and is what gives it the authenticity that is required for people to actually believe him. Because when someone's reading from a teleprompter and everything's just perfect, we all buttoned down, we have green screen behind us, and everything looks perfect, guess what? The authenticity. Authenticity level drops dramatically. And when you show up to a team meeting and you just speak from your heart, and you don't have a bunch of notes, you don't have anything planned, and you have a. Don't have a whiteboard, you don't have a PowerPoint, just speak from your heart. Really what you believe in, your team will believe you more because they know it's not scripted. It comes from the heart. Also, he's doing what he's asking everyone else to do, and that is stay your ground. Do not panic. We're going to fight. Now, he has identified himself as the number one target for the Russian army. And the United States apparently offered to come and evacuate him from Kiev. Basically, they'd come in, get him out of Kiev to basically, hopefully reduce the amount of bloodshed. However, he said, I do not need a ride, I need ammunition. Now, again, this could be folklore. This could be a way of propaganda to inspire his people. However, it was successful. Let me tell you, if you have a leader that says, I'm not going to back down, I'm putting all the eggs in this basket. I am 100% committed, and I'm not just going to say that verbally. I'm going to do it in the actions that I take. That is extremely powerful. When you, as the business owner, have open book Management and you're showing everything to your team and they can see that you're putting everything, you're committed 100% to this business. And they see you get there early, they see you leave late, they see you willing to jump into the trenches when necessary in order to get things done. That is when your team will not be disillusioned by the fog of war because they have a clear leader, a clear vision, and a leader that is acting in front of them exactly what they anticipate them to be doing. A great leader has the notion and the mindset of I will not ask anyone that I am leading to do anything that I personally am not willing to do. And the mindset of President Zelensky is how can I expect my comrades, my nationals, the people that I love to do? I am requiring them doing, telling them to do, hey, go fight. And then I'm running and I'm turning my back like some of the one liners of just the people in the country, not the president, not politicians. But the things that they are saying in these interviews that are candid are incredible. And the reason for that is because they have a strong leader that is leading the way with his actions. He's not running, he's not trying to retreat. He is willing to fight and he's willing to give his life for what his cause is. Now, I don't want to over dramaticize this because at the end of the day, this is business and money for most of us that we're talking about. But it comes down to leadership and organization. It is inconsequential of what leadership, what organizational position you're in. This works in so many different areas. Have a common vision, communicate that effectively with your team and don't use positional authority to get orders done. That's what Putin is doing right now. You go follow my orders because you're in the army. Go. That does not work long term. Second thing, if you're going to lead, make sure the actions that you take are exactly what you would anticipate or require of those you are leading. And do so with heart, do so with vigor, and do so with passion towards the goal that you have. I'm Mike Andes. We'll see you tomorrow after. They want a desire sick. Oh, man. Don't go backwards, Michael.

Not be.

Good luck trying to edit that.