Valuable advice from others is often taken at face value. So when my late husband would suggest that in difficult times we must “remain mobile, hostile, and agile”, I didn’t have any idea what he meant. You see, he was a competitive college football player and this was a motto that he heard many times from his football coaches. On the field it seemed obvious that it was intended literally while running football plays.
But then when I was faced with leadership challenges, he would tell me I needed to be “mobile”. He helped me to understand that it meant that I needed to be able to move freely and easily between tasks. In leadership you need to be able to move from situation to situation, or problem to problem and not miss a beat. You need to demonstrate quick and easy mobility through a variety of solutions until you reach a satisfactory outcome.
When I was faced with threats or barriers to achieving innovative solutions, he told me I needed to be “hostile”. Now I took hostile as aggressive or antagonistic. But he helped me to understand that in the business world this meant the ability to stand your ground, debate your position, challenge the way, and employ all methods required to improve the situation or outcome. Without this form of hostility we may find outsells stagnant, never improving and doing the “same-ole, same-ole”.
Finally when I was faced with the ever-changing landscape of healthcare leadership, with multiple competing priorities, requiring shift of attention from moment to moment; he reminded me I need to be “agile”. This is the ability to quickly shift my energy and attention, dividing tasks and priorities in a method to get the job done. It might not be the same way every time, leading others to questions the route you might take each time.
So when others offer you advice, take the time to listen carefully. Often the meaning or the applicability to your situation is beneath the surface. Because I was able to carefully consider my late husband’s football advise, I was able to expand my leadership skills to be “mobile, hostile and agile” and continue to strive to become a better leader.