Fighting FOR

It’s straightforward to fight AGAINST something – injustice, your competition, even government regulation. In fact, we often use that as the first definition of “fight.”

My observation is that fighting FOR something is actually more powerful, more motivating, and attracts more helpers. But it’s a bit harder, because you have to have a compelling view of that positive thing you’re fighting for.

Fighting against something is based on fear. But the first response to fear is simply to run away in whatever direction occurs to you at that moment.

This leads to a group of people just running away in random directions. Which is totally fine when you have an immediate danger like fire or hurricane.

But if you’re a leader, having people stuck in a state of avoiding fear through random actions, you’re not going to make any headway. Instead, you want to channel peoples’ energy TOWARDS some positive result. All going the same direction.

The two concepts are linked, of course. Perhaps you got scared when your competitor made that big announcement. I understand.

But as a thoughtful leader, your role is to pick the most useful direction you’d like everybody to move. Which means you’ll paint a positive picture of where we’re going, and how we’re going to beat the competitor in the end. This is hard work.

So fear pushed you out of complacency and into action. So … start taking action. Make decisions, paint that positive picture, and work to have people start following you.

Get moving.