Perseverance is Essential to Business Success

Setbacks happen to everyone -- in both professional and personal settings. The ability to move on from these setbacks and continue to strive for success is known as perseverance and it’s an essential leadership competency. If every little failure or bad result completely derails your progress, you’ll never achieve your goals. Great leaders know this and keep going until they succeed, even if they have to take a few steps back or start over from scratch now and then.I’ve been reading about perseverance this week and wanted to share a few articles and blog posts I found particularly helpful.The Best Indicator for Perseverance: Connections. 99U: “Increasing your likelihood of persevering when the going gets tough comes down to who you have to turn to and whether or not you’re open to doing so. If you have a network of people you can openly turn to whenever you need a fresh perspective or positive encouragement, you’re likely to be better off than those who lock their problems up inside.”President Lincoln's Leadership Continues To Impress. Forbes: “Nine years after critics wrote him off as a political player, Lincoln accomplished leadership feats and professional successes that were nothing short of heroic. And for these, history recognizes him as one of America’s greatest presidents...Lincoln taught us that often the difference between bold accomplishment and painful setback is the courage, character and diligence to persevere.”Don't Let a Career Setback Derail You. Metro: “Try not to think of the past: ‘Dwelling on the negatives, dwelling on the stress, dwelling on the uncertainty - none of these are going to get you anywhere,’ says [Naval veteran turned Paralympic swim champion, Brad Snyder]. ‘Focus on the positives, focus on personal development, focus on the upsides.’”Don’t Give Up When the Cookie Crumbles, ‘Mrs. Fields’ Tells Leadership Students. Chapman University -- Happenings: “There’s a special ingredient in Mrs. Fields’ cookies that won’t be noticed by fans of those famously rich, buttery cookies sold online and at franchises throughout the country. But it’s there in every bite. And it’s perseverance...Among the roadblocks were bankers who gobbled up her cookies at meetings but rejected her loan requests, chocolate manufacturers who wouldn’t sell her their product because her operation was too tiny, and an awful opening day when she launched her first shop in Palo Alto, Calif.”5 Ways to Recover From a Business Setback. Barr Jones Associates: “Consider some business coaching or mentoring – advice from a trusted source and encouragement from an experienced professional who really understands your business might be just what you need to inspire you to get your business back on track. Sometimes an outside opinion can be invaluable. When you’re running a business you can be so caught up in it, often you miss an opportunity that’s right in front of your eyes.”Contact us if you’d like to learn how we can help your organization’s leaders build perseverance and develop other essential leadership competencies.Success Labs is a leadership development and management consulting firm in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. For more than 25 years, our expert team of consultants has worked with hundreds of companies to explore their business potential and improve their company and cultural performance. Contact us to get proactive about your people strategy.