Overcoming Adversity Research Paper

Adversity: How Leaders Overcame Them
By Terry Scolley
Barry University ADM 303

There have been several leaders in this world who have had to overcome adversity or crisis in their lives. Overcoming those adversity and crisis is part of what made them great leaders in the first place. This paper will define adversity, crisis, and failure; discuss behaviors and action that are needed in order to overcome adversity and crisis, and three keys to overcoming failures. It will talk about some of the great leaders of our time and what adversity or crisis they had to overcome. Every person at one point and time in their life will or have already faced adversity, crisis, or failure and what kind of person we become is determined
Mankind will all face adversity or a crisis at some point in their life and depending on how you handle it can either make them stronger or it can control you. So what are adversity, crisis, and failure? In order to understand what you face you need to know what these terms mean. Adversity originated in Middle-English in the 1200s and it means adverse fortune or fate, or a condition marked by misfortune, calamity, distress, or unfortunate event or circumstance (Dictionary, 2014). Crisis originated in late Middle-English in 1375 and is defined as a condition of instability or danger, as in social, economic, political, or international affairs, leading to a decisive change or a dramatic emotional or circumstantial upheaval in a person life (Dictionary, 2014). Failure originated in Anglo-French in 1635 and is defined as a person or thing that proves unsuccessful (Dictionary, 2014). Everyone has faced adversity, crisis, and failure it is just part of life it can range from the loss of someone important to them, or the loss of a job, or a demotion, or even as simply as your car breaking down. So how do you deal with adversity and crisis when you are confronted with
When a person hits rock bottom they have to find a way to brush themselves off and start working their way back to the top, but this time they need to keep three key in mind. Take responsibility; be your own master. You are the one who took short cuts and made whatever side deals you needed to make to get to the top so you need to take responsibility for these events. Nelson Mandela kept a piece of scrap paper with him while he was imprisoned for 27 years that had the poem “Invictus” on it. It end with this famous last line, “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.” A leader you need to embody these words during the tough time of your failure. The next key is; self-acceptance: find peace in yourself. While you were on top you allowed the negative noise of other to influence you and covered up your shortcomings and weaknesses. Abraham Lincoln had eight election failure to the civil war, perhaps no U.S. president suffered more hardship than him. At the end of his last term he stated, “I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend be down inside of me. When leaders embrace their shortcoming and weaknesses then they can begin to turn them into their strengths. The last key to overcoming failure is trust: listen to your gut. During your climb to the top there were point where you had to make