In the movie “A League of our Own,” when Dottie Hinson wanted to quit baseball because, as she said, “It just got too hard,” Jimmy Dugan’s reply always stuck with me. He said, “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.”
The classic Tom Hanks line is how I feel about the produce industry. Produce is hard. Whether you are a supplier or a retailer, it’s a tough job. We didn’t sign up for it because it was easy. We signed up for it because we love the challenge.
To be successful in produce you must be a great leader. Great leaders are mentally tough. One of the great leaders in the produce industry was the late Frieda Caplan. Frieda used to say, “Success came because I never saw obstacles.” Frieda was a pioneer in the produce world and was mentally tough.
Great leaders all have one thing in common. They are mentally tough. Here are my 12 attributes of mentally tough people.
They control their emotions
Great leaders don’t let their emotions control them. Great leaders have a high EQ – emotional intelligence. EQ is defined as the ability to identify, evaluate, control and express emotions.
You cannot be mentally tough without the ability to fully understand strong negative emotions and do something productive with them.
How a leader shows up is everything. Your attitude, your words, your body language, your facial expressions – those scornful faces you don’t think anybody else sees? They see them – all contribute to the value – or lack of value – that you, as a leader, create for others.
They are confident
Mentally tough leaders have confidence in themselves, and it shows. They walk tall. They have command presence. When great leaders walk into a room, they fill the room. People like to work with leaders who are truly confident.
There is a natural tendency to trust people more when they appear confident. For most of us, dealing with a confident person helps assure us that the person is also competent.
Your appearance, your posture and personal presentation, how you walk, how you speak and the gestures you use all project your personal command presence.
Confidence doesn’t mean arrogance. As a matter of fact, great leaders’ confidence is balanced with humility and vulnerability.
Remember Henry Ford’s quote: “Whether you think you can or think you can’t—you’re right.”
They speak with power
Mentally tough leaders not only hold themselves with power; they speak with power. They use phrases like “I can,” “I am,” “I will” and “I choose.” They don’t apologize for their assertions. Their assertions are backed with facts. Words matter.
Mentally tough leaders practice straight talk. People can detect BS a mile away, especially if they are skeptical already.
There are two groups of followers when it comes to leadership: people who buy into what you’re selling and those who still need convincing.
They neutralize negative people
Mentally tough leaders control their interactions with negative, toxic people by keeping their feelings in check. Negative, toxic people never let things go. They can’t move forward. They bully, lie, intimidate.
They are constantly creating drama and playing the victim. They act out of fear and insecurity.
Remove these people from your organization or, at the very least, minimize their influence.
They embrace change
Mentally tough leaders don’t resist change; they embrace it. If you resist change, you will eventually get run over by it.
Instead, you can choose to cooperate with it, adapt to it and figure out how to benefit from it. When you embrace change, you will see it as an opportunity to grow.
They face fear
Actor and martial artist Bruce Lee one said, “Courage is not the absence of fear; it is the ability to act in the presence of fear.”
Put all remote possibilities out of your mind. Face your fears before you start something. Declare the alternative is a possibility.
They embrace failure
Kobe Bryant is the NBA’s career leader in only one statistic: missed shots, with a total of 14,481. He shot, and he kept shooting. He knew he’d miss 100% of the shots he didn’t take.
They don’t dwell on mistakes
Mentally tough leaders consider failure to be a lesson and a steppingstone. Mentally tough leaders don’t let a mistake zap their enthusiasm. They move on.
They don’t wait for an apology to forgive
Mentally tough leaders know that once you let go of grudges and forgive, you have power. Grudges and negative events from your past ruin today’s happiness. Hate and anger are emotional parasites that destroy your joy in life.
They don’t interpret other’s actions
In the book “Setting the Table,” restaurateur Danny Meyer talks of making charitable assumptions by having a mindset that assumes the best intentions of others.
Mindsets often become self-fulfilling prophecies, so what you think of someone is likely to happen.
They’re relentlessly positive
How do you see life? Is the glass half full or half empty? Mentally tough people are relentlessly positive. They refuse to recognize the negative. Positive thinking is a way of living their life, and they look for the best results from the worst conditions.
They make a conscious choice
You can choose to be positive or choose to be negative. You can choose to be a creator or be a complainer. You can choose to take responsibility or avoid it.
Mentally tough leaders consciously choose their attitude and behavior to inspire positive attitude and behavior in others. It’s always your choice.
So in the end, being a mentally tough leader is completely within the grasp of every person.
What type of a leader to you want to be? It’s your choice. In the words of Sean Connery’s character Malone in the “The Untouchables,” the question is this: What are you prepared to do?
Mike O’Brien, president of O’Brien Innovations, has more than 30 years of retail leadership experience, including 15 years as a vice president of produce. He received the Produce Retailer of the Year award in 2004. His new consulting practice covers retail merchandising and business development, among other areas.
Check out Mike's previous columns for PMG at the following links:
What makes a great produce merchandiser — We have a lot of conversation about produce managers, inspectors, buyers and category managers, but perhaps the unsung hero in produce department operations is the produce merchandiser/specialist.
Succession planning for produce managers — A great plan won’t hit your goals without execution at store level. I had a boss once who used to tell me, “Nothing is real until it happens in the store.” To have great execution you need great produce managers.
Winning the war on shrink — Runaway shrink is the nemesis of an otherwise well-run produce operation. It’s almost impossible to hit your targeted numbers if you don’t have a handle on shrink.