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There is a reference that I often return to: “Virtue has the ability to take pain.” This is from Asador Sharp, the founder of the four -season. As long as I guide teams and companies, I felt how true that line was – not just ideology, but practically.
We talk a lot about leadership in terms of vision, decisive and strategy. But I know the best leaders – the people who go into the fire – something else: the ability to absorb pain.
Absorb stress so that others do not need
Leadership comes with pressure. This is part of the work. But the best leaders do not just manage this pressure, they protect their teams from it. They lift the emotional and strategic weight of uncertainty so that others are focused and confident.
It is not about being a martyr. It’s about being buffered. This type of leader who clarifies the complexity, even when it is not. The kind of night calls, calls tightly or when they go to the edge of matters-not because it is easy, but because it protects the team’s speed.
Michael Jordan’s 1997 “Flow Game” is a great example. He dropped 38 points during the NBA final. The same mentality is under the military leadership of the elite, where commanding officers often eat the last, sleep less and guide the front. This is not a performance – this is the principle.
In business, I have seen that guardians have been stepped into the brutal conversation of the boardroom, get heat from stakeholders and return to the office with humor. Not to hide the truth, but to prevent teams from roaming. This type of leadership does not appear on the list of experience – but it gains confidence over time.
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Pain is inevitable, but its scope has been built
Pressure absorption is not something you are born with. This is a ability you build. And like any muscle, it also grows through daily representatives. That is why working hard – according to the purpose, every day – more than just one habit. It is a mentality that creates it when the leaders are most important when they are most important.
Extremely effective leaders do not wait for difficulties before creating flexibility. They train it. Whether it is cold raining, hard conversation or time of deep attention, they are suffering as a form of preparation. They know that explanation is not accidental in hard moments – this is a permanent, deliberately earned by challenge.
Train for this moment before he arrives
There is a reference attributed to the Navy seal that says, “You do not rise on this occasion. You fall to your training level.” That line is sticking with me because it is brutally true.
When things go around – and they always do – you won’t magically ask for strength. You will already default to what you do. If you have spent time to create mental and emotional ability through hard things, you will stop the line. If you don’t have, you will feel it faster.
That is why I have influenced people like David Gogs, who openly talk about the value of putting themselves through voluntary difficulties. He does not do this for the show. When she stops life, she does it to make a reservoir she can attract. And in the leadership, that moment always comes.
Changing uncertainty into action
The leadership often feels like standing on the edge of the unknown, before the image is said to be fully clear. In these moments, the power is not just about the intellect – it’s about politeness. Your team does not need all your answers. They need to believe that you will not be able to return.
This is the place where these two ideas meet with each other: absorb pain and work hard. An external result. The second is the internal engine. Absorbing pain without capacity will burn you. But if you make a habit of choosing a hard path – tilt in friction instead of getting away from it – you will increase the ability to carry more and keep the ground when doing it.
I am not perfect for it. But I am permanent. I find myself small ways to challenge myself every day. I surround myself with people who are not ashamed of hard things. And when it is collided with uncertainty, I work to convert it into a viable thing – complex easier, and great management.
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The original ROI of working hard
One of the biggest misconceptions about discomfort is that it is naturally negative. I would argue that this is a shortcut for clarification. When you first make a habit of dealing with the hardest thing – whether it be a tough conversation, a strategic axis or a new move – you build confidence in your own ability to do what it is. And over time, this trust becomes contagious.
Teams do not need perfect leaders. They need permanent people. They need leaders who show in hard moments and not lose their center. Leaders who transmit pain in focus and uncertainty. Leaders who have trained for fear of fear of others. That’s what I’m trying, a difficult thing at a time.