Career Success: How a Crisis Can Become Your Opportunity for Greatness

Throughout history, people have been elevated to greatness because of the way they have responded during a crisis. World leaders, business owners and other newsmakers have made the news (and the history books) because something went wrong or a great obstacle presented itself and they were able to overcome it. On a larger scale, each day people all over the world have defining moments within their career (whether they work for themselves or someone else) because a problem occured and they were able to use their leadership skills to save the day. If you want a fast path to success, step up and shine during a crisis. You’ll differentiate yourself from the pack as so many people simply get absorbed with the problem and what caused it instead of making the effort to find a solution.

Why people miss this opportunity:

Too many people (especially in the workplace) try to pass the blame onto another party when a problem presents itself. They treat it like a hot potato and just want to dump it on someone else so they don’t have to deal with it. Now this is typically done for two reasons:

• They fear a negative perception about themselves or their business.
• They don’t want to deal with the issue because they’re too busy or too lazy.

Now this affliction affects employees and entrepreneurs alike, although it’s more prevalent in the workplace where mistakes aren’t tolerated as they are in an entrepreneurial environment. And in many cases, it’s just simply easier to let someone else deal with the problem. What they fail to realize is that it takes much longer to achieve success when you have no obstacles.

Obstacles give us a chance to sharpen our skills, test our commitment and become fully engaged in reaching our goals. When you overcome an obstacle, it increases your confidence and makes you feel more invested in your goal. Your blood, sweat and tears suddenly become more meaningful to you as you see a result from your efforts.

Facing no obstacles makes the journey less exciting and less exciting means you risk a drop in your level of commitment. Very few people have achieved greatness without overcoming at least a few bumps in the road.

So the next time you find yourself faced with a crisis, get excited. It’s your chance to show the world what you’ve got to offer and stand out from the crowd. Avoid the temptation of looking for blame and passing the buck and focus instead on finding a solution.

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