Keep Leading On
January 30, 2025 | Nate Mishler
Let’s face it. Being a leader isn’t easy. Challenging? Yes. Rewarding? Usually. Demanding? Always.
Leading in today’s world can be exhausting, especially if done well. It takes time, emotional intelligence, and a strong resolve to keep going every day. I’ve talked to many leaders through the years, and although they face various issues, many times, they all stem from three common struggles: busyness, loneliness, and anxiety.
It seems as if every time I ask someone in a leadership role how they are doing, their response is almost always the same. Their shoulders drop, and a look of desperation comes across their face; they force a smile and tell me, “Busy, man. Just busier than ever.” We live in a world where we wear the word “busy” like a badge of honor. As leaders, we often find our worth in being busy. Anything else is viewed as a sign of weakness. We think that if we aren’t busy as leaders, we must not be competent, we lack the emotional bandwidth to be successful, or worse yet, we are (cue the dramatic music)…lazy.
It’s also unhealthy to be on the other side of the spectrum, though. There is a television series my wife and I love to watch together that has the following line I love. Responding to being asked, “Don’t you have work to do?” the managing partner responds, “My dear fellow, if I have to do work, then I’m not doing my job.” That’s probably not healthy either, but great leadership falls somewhere between losing our minds from being so busy and letting others do all the work. Truth be told, it seems that there is never a sweet spot. Pressure to delegate and do less from some angles. Pressure to always have a pipeline overflowing from others. We will never get things perfectly in balance, but we must align our priorities or risk falling into other unhealthy spaces.
I remember a time when I realized I was in an unhealthy place as a leader. I had allowed things to get out of balance in the pursuit of carving out a name for myself. I had isolated family and friends in exchange for chasing the idol of “success.” I was just approved to join the Skyline Club as an “Under 35 Executive” and was waiting in the penthouse for an event to start. I had never felt more accomplished or proud as I stood in that room, staring out over the city on the top floor of the One America Tower. I had “made it.” Then, it hit me as I stood in that enormous room alone. I had no one to share this moment with. My relationship with my wife was strained from the stress of the business (especially when spending money on memberships in exclusive clubs), and I had sacrificed my closest friendships to get here. The room would soon be full of other leaders, and I would value their encouragement and inspiration, but my inner circles had been compromised. Although that room was packed 30 minutes later, I had never felt as alone as I did then and never have since. However, even when I was healthy and had grown in my leadership, I still felt lonely many times. I had a strong support system of friends and family outside of work, but most of them had no idea what I dealt with as a leader. The higher you climb the corporate ladder, the fewer peers you have. In my business, I was one of one. Finding community with other leaders was essential.
Finding community with other leaders can also help assuage the anxiety that leaders often feel. I mentioned managing the workload already, but there are so many other tasks that leaders face daily. It often feels like the weight of the entire organization falls on a leader’s shoulders, no matter where they fall on the org chart. Whether it is budgets, goals, expectations, or something else, the weight a leader feels can be crippling without the proper support in place.
That is why Kingsway wants to be a hub for leaders in the community to feel encouraged, equipped, known, and loved. Whether it is the Inspire and Connect Leadership Series, where leaders gather for lunch and learning, or the Global Leadership Summit, a two-day event filled with world-class speakers, we would love to have you join us here, where you can get away for a couple of hours (or days) to meet other people and find encouragement to keep leading on!