Adversity Reveals How You Have Really Been Leading All Along

Most leadership advice sounds like it was written on a sunny day.

We talk about "alignment," "scaling," and "vision" as if the path is always clear. But the reality of leadership is that you will eventually hit a time where none of your usual tools work.

A product launch falls flat. A key hire leaves. A major client pulls a contract. A funding round falls through.

In those moments, adversity doesn't just challenge your plan. It can shake your sense of identity. If you’ve built your self-worth on being the leader who has the answers or worse, the hero who saves the day, a problem you can't immediately fix can feel like a personal failure. 

Real leadership isn’t built when everything is working. It’s built during turbulence.

When things go wrong, most leaders have a default stress response: they grip tighter. You move from 30,000 feet down to 50 feet. You micromanage the details until your team snaps at the unnecessary oversight. You feel you have to project total certainty to keep everyone calm, even when you're unsure of the next step. You create a massive gap in trust because your team can feel the disconnect between your words and the reality they’re living.

Instead of trying to be the hero who fixes everything, your job is to be the leader who gives it context. You tell the truth about the struggle without losing sight of the goal. You acknowledge that the plan is no longer working. You share what you do know and what you don’t. And you align one next step that everyone can work toward.

Adversity is where you see whether your team shows up as order takers or problem solvers.

If you’ve done the work of building their judgment and critical thinking during the good times, they will rise to the challenge. If you’ve spent the good times being the bottleneck, the adversity will expose the gap because they’re all waiting for a hero who is currently out of answers.

If you’re in a challenging moment right now, stop asking, “How do I fix this?” and start asking, “What does this situation reveal about how I’ve built this organization?” Adversity isn't an interruption to leadership; it highlights how you’ve been leading.