The Leaders Who Struggle Well
A reflection on struggle, leadership, and the environments we create for others.
Over the past few weeks we’ve been exploring what it means to struggle well.
The weight many leaders quietly carry.
The cost of carrying it alone.
The surprising ways struggle can shape us.
And the relief that comes when that weight is shared.
But something else becomes clear when you step back.
Pressure doesn’t just test leaders. It reveals the environments we create for others.
The Leadership Mirror
Because people are always watching how leaders carry what is hard.
And over time, they begin to carry it the same way.
If you, as a leader, struggle silently, your team learns to stay quiet when they struggle.
If you, as a leader, absorb everything alone, others assume they should too.
If you, as a leader, pretend everything is fine, people learn to hide what isn’t.
But when you, as a leader, carry pressure differently— with honesty, with presence, with openness—something else begins to form.
People exhale.
Trust deepens.
Shared responsibility grows.
Staying Oriented in The Struggle
And there is another posture that quietly shapes all of this.
One that is often overlooked in leadership conversations.
Gratitude.
Not as a performance.
Not as a way to minimize what is hard.
But as a way of staying oriented in the middle of struggle.
Gratitude does not remove the weight. But it changes how you carry it.
It keeps you connected to what is still present.
What is still meaningful.
Sho is still with you.
Even when the situation itself has not changed.
Living IN Gratitude is not about denying what is hard. It's about remaining open to what is still present within it.
In that way, gratitude becomes more than a feeling.
It becomes a practice.
A way of remaining open when it would be easier to close.
A way of noticing what is still good when everything feels heavy.
A way of leading that reminds people:
We can be honest about what is hard without losing sight of what matters.
From Posture to Leadership
And when leaders carry pressure with that kind of posture—
honest, open, grounded in gratitude—
you begin shaping environments where people can grow.
Which leads to a deeper realization about leadership itself.
Leadership exists to cultivate people.
Not simply to drive performance.
Not simply to manage outcomes.
But to create environments where people can grow — even in seasons of pressure. Those don't seem to be ending anytime soon!
When leaders cultivate people, something remarkable begins to happen.
Contribution rises.
Ownership expands.
Creativity multiplies.
Not because the pressure has vanished. But because people are learning how to carry it differently.
Together.
This changes the way we think about leadership.
Because leadership is not just about what gets done.
It’s about what is formed in people along the way.
And struggle, when carried well, becomes one of the primary places where that formation happens.
Our Next Conversation
Over the coming weeks, I’ll be exploring this idea more deeply.
What does it actually look like to cultivate people?
What kind of environments help people grow?
And how do leaders shape those environments when pressure is real?
Before we go there, sit with this for a moment:
What kind of environment does your leadership create when pressure rises?
And perhaps just as important:
What would it look like to carry what is hard with both honesty… and gratitude?
Because the real question isn’t whether you will carry hard things.
The real question is how you will carry them — and who you become in the process.
I'M GRATEFUL FOR YOU!