Overcoming Challenges While Staying Positive

Positivity doesn’t mean ignoring reality—it means navigating it with clarity, courage, and conviction.

Every leader eventually hits a wall. Sometimes it’s a small disruption, and sometimes it feels like the bottom drops out all at once. What sets great leaders apart isn’t whether they face adversity—it’s the mindset they bring when adversity shows up. A positive outlook isn’t naïve or unrealistic. It’s a deliberate choice to believe there’s a way forward, even when the winds pick up and the clouds get dark.

Managing Crises with a Solutions-Oriented Mindset

Growing up in rural Florida, storms didn’t surprise you—they ambushed you. One minute the sun was shining over the citrus groves, the next minute lightning cracked across the sky. My dad never panicked when the weather turned. He just adjusted, regrouped, and said something like, “We can’t stop the storm, but we can decide how we move in it.”

That same mindset carried into my time in the 160th SOAR. No plan survives contact exactly as written. When things went sideways, the teams who thrived were the ones whose leaders stayed focused on solutions: one next step, one clear decision, one steady move forward.

The Bible reinforces this grounding principle. “Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you” (Joshua 1:9). Courage doesn’t wait for calm weather—it rises in spite of the wind.

The Wisdom of the Buffalo: Running Into the Storm

There’s a proverb about buffalo that I’ve always loved: when a storm rolls in, cattle try to run away from it, stretching out the misery as the storm chases them. But buffalo? They turn into the wind and charge straight toward the storm. By running through it rather than away from it, they get to the other side faster.

That’s leadership in a nutshell.

Leaders don’t pretend the storm isn’t real. They don’t waste time wishing it wasn’t happening. They face the challenge head-on, with clarity and purpose. And when a team sees their leader moving into the difficulty instead of avoiding it, they gain courage to do the same.

Learning From Failures Without Discouragement

Failure has a way of humbling you and sharpening you at the same time. I’ve had hunts go wrong, projects fall apart, and missions where the unexpected showed up in a hurry. Those moments sting, but they also teach. They reveal where you need to grow, where you need to strengthen, and where you need to adjust.

Peter’s story on the water captures this perfectly. He stepped out in faith, started strong, then lost focus and sank. Jesus didn’t shame him—He reached down and lifted him up. That’s the rhythm of growth: step out, stumble, learn, try again.

A positive leader doesn’t deny a failure. They just refuse to be defined by it.

Leading by Example Under Pressure

Pressure exposes who a leader truly is. In the Army, the calmest voice often belonged to the person carrying the most responsibility. They didn’t pretend everything was fine—they just stayed grounded enough to make steady decisions when everyone else felt rattled.

Throughout Scripture, the same pattern shows up.

Daniel stayed calm in the lion’s den.

Paul and Silas sang in a prison cell.

Jesus slept through a storm.

These weren’t people shielded from adversity—they were people who stayed steady inside it.

Takeaway

Leadership isn’t about pretending the skies are sunny when the storm is already on top of you. It’s about refusing to run from the hard things, choosing instead to face them with confidence, clarity, and faith.

Positive leaders don’t avoid the storm—they run into it.

And when they do, their teams follow with courage of their own.