If you are Going Through Hell, Keep Going

In 2006, country music singer Rodney Adkins had a platinum hit called "If you are Going Through Hell."  

The lyrics are great advice for business and for your personal life:

If you're going through hell, keep on going.
Don't slow down.  If you're scared don't show it.
You might get out before the devil even knows you're there.
If you're going through hell, keep on moving.
Face that fire. Walk right through it.
You might get out before the devil even knows you're there.

Here's a link to the music video of the song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l50L4GYhpLc

How many of you know that this song was based upon a quote by an another famous person.  Want to guess who?

Well, if you are like me and looked it up online, you picked Winston Churchill.  Sounds just like Churchill, who led a nation through incredible hardship with strength and determination.  Also like me, you would be wrong!  I actually thought it was Churchill, but attributing that quote to him is a myth.  

The correct answer is French playwright Victor Hugo (the Hunchback of Notre Dame writer) in the mid 1800's.

It doesn't matter who said it, wrote it, or sang it.  The wisdom of the expression is invaluable.  We all are going to experience difficulty and hardship.  As a business leader, there will be times you find yourself or the company in very difficult situations. 

Many times our instinctive response is denial.  We don't want to admit we're in a bad spot, and because we won't admit it, we won't take action to get out of it.  Closely related would be despair, where we wallow in depression and are just stuck in it.  Another common response is the temptation of resignation.  Just walk away and quit.

As an effective leader, you've got to resist these instinctive responses.  Instead, acknowledge you are going through Hell.  Crank up the country music and keep on going.  

Many of you may be thinking "this is way too simplistic.  Problems are multi-layered and complicated".  You make a fair point.  Getting past bad situations is seldom easy and simple.

However, if you are to be a business leader, you have to have an underlying attitude of strength and action that changes circumstances.  "Keep on Going" isn't the solution. It is the attitude that drives you toward the solutions.