‘‘Professional soldiers pray for peace, but hope for war.’’ What does this saying mean? It means that soldiers pray for peace because war is so terrible: Every sensible person wants to live out their life in peace and for as long as possible, including soldiers.
But only during warfare, during critical moments on the battlefield, is it possible to achieve distinction and be rapidly promoted. Professional soldiers hope for war, in the back of their minds, so they can demonstrate their fitness and capability for higher command.
Viktor Frankl, a survivor of Auschwitz during World War II and the founder of Logotherapy, famously wrote, ‘‘The last great freedom is the freedom to choose your own mental attitude under any set of conditions.’’
A senior executive friend of mine, whose company had suffered sales declines of 40 percent in less than a year and was reeling from the reversals in the economy, told me how he maintained a positive attitude every day.
He said, ‘‘Each morning, when I get up, I have a decision to make. I can be happy, or I can be very happy. I therefore decide that today, I will be very happy, and I allow that attitude to guide me throughout the day, no matter what happens.’’
You too can choose your own attitude under any given set of circumstances. You can decide to be positive, constructive, and forward-looking. You can look upon each ‘‘crisis’’ as an ‘‘opportunity,’’ even if it is only an opportunity for you to grow, mature, become stronger, and perhaps even achieve the kind of ‘‘battlefield promotions’’ that will stay with you for the rest of your career. Welcome to the twenty-first century!
Excerpts from: How the Best Leaders Lead
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