Leading well when times are good can exercise the best of us. Inspiring and motivating others to step up and win in difficult and uncertain conditions, when change appears to be rampent takes something special.   I expect that you have asked yourself many times what is it that some leaders do to win when times are tough.   How it is that these leaders can consistently strike gold whilst other leaders would simply be happy to just maintain the status quo?   What is it that these leaders do to inspire and motivate their people to outperform others when times are difficult and uncertain?

There is an African saying:- If you go out from your village for a walk into the bush and you look around and find that you are on your own - you are just going for a walk on your own. 

If however you go out from your village for a walk into the bush and you look around and you find lots of people following behind you on your path, then you are a leader.  

I would like to add another line to this saying... 

If there is a famine and no one knows what to do or where to go, if the people are starting to fight each other and rebel and you take a course of action, make decisions and do something and find that you are on your own then your leadership was for good times. If however you take a course of action, make decisions and do something and find that people are with you then you are a leader for difficult times.  

There is a free guide about how to lead in difficult and uncertain times. All you need to do is fill in your details in the boxes on the left, confirm your email address and we will send it to you together with a series of useful and practical tips about leadership in difficult and uncertain situations.

The book The Ambiguity Advantage: what great leaders are great at is based on research conducted whilst the author was head of department at Cranfield University, that looks at leaders responses to difficult and uncertain situations.