The Bridge of Genoa: also a leadership disaster

It is a well-known wisdom that our true character shows up in stressful situations. Because in this case the control by the conscious mind is reduced or switched off.

Great leaders are distinguished by the fact that they are outstanding leaders especially in stressful situations where "sunshine managers" often fail.

On the contrary, we have recently witnessed a sad demonstration of bad leadership: the catastrophe of the collapse of the Morandi bridge in Genoa in Italy is terrible. I have been here several times and, I am certain that I have already crossed the bridge.

What was needed right after the accident was a prudent clarification of the causes to ensure the prevention of an incident like this from ever happening again? That is precisely what we must expect from the political leaders.

Some have apparently failed this test and provided a sad example of catastrophic leadership (as if it wasn't already enough of a tragedy).

Here are three essential leadership mistakes (but beware: look carefully at the following situations, as this may happen to you or your leadership team every now and again):

1. Making accusations without any facts. This example can be found in the first chapters of each book on personal development: Those who seek blame instead of solutions are on the losing side. Leading politicians without facts have immediately blamed everything possible (the architect, the operating company, the EU, the weather, etc.) for the collapse of the bridge.
2. Cynicism instead of enlightenment. Watch yourself: How often do you cynically talk about the difficulties of others or negative influences? Cynicism is not a compatible trait for outstanding leadership.
3. Taking advantage rather than being cooperative. Weak leaders try to take advantage from difficult situations instead of cooperating to find solutions. In the event of a disaster, good leaders often put together a top team before they make unsolicited comments.

So, you can also learn from detrimental events to understand how things are going to get better, even if the situation is a negative one. Take it to heart!