Persist & Resist. The Hidden Balance of Leadership
In every boardroom or meeting, I see two invisible forces at play:
- The pull to persist (keep pushing)
- The need to resist (say no to what’s wrong).
The challenge isn’t action, it’s direction.
What do we persist in?
What do we resist?
The answer is in two quiet virtues:
Reverence: respect for what’s been entrusted to you: people, time, and purpose.
Justice: fairness and truth in how you lead and decide.
Every professional lives this tension daily.
We persist in chasing outcomes, targets, deadlines, and ambitions, but forget reverence for the process and the people.
We resist discomfort or change but fail to resist shortcuts, politics, or silence when fairness is at stake.
Character reveals itself in small, consistent acts of doing what’s entrusted without reminders, owning mistakes without excuses, and ensuring what’s broken gets fixed, not just discussed.
Choosing respect over ego and fairness over convenience.
Micro Actions for Everyday Leadership
- Cancel one recurring meeting that adds no value. Protect your focus.
- Deliver entrusted tasks without waiting for prompts or praise.
- Admit mistakes fast. Correct them faster.
- Defend those not in the room. That’s integrity in action.
- Say no without guilt when it violates purpose or principle.
- Celebrate fairness publicly. Make doing right visible.
Leadership is about knowing what deserves your persistence and what demands your resistance.