One of the hardest lessons I’ve learned over the last 25 years of leading people is that your team is always watching. Not when things are easy. When a deal blows up. When a customer is upset. When someone misses a goal. When a team member makes a costly mistake. That’s when leadership gets tested. John Maxwell teaches that when adversity shows up, leaders bring one of two things: Water or fuel. I wish I could tell you I’ve always brought water. I haven’t. When I was younger, I used to freak out. Lose my cool. Get frustrated. Lash out. Jump in and try to save the day. At the time, I thought I was being a strong leader. Looking back, a lot of that behavior was rooted in fear. Fear of failure. Fear of losing money. Fear of disappointing people. Fear of things not working out. What I’ve learned is that fear creates reactions. Faith creates responses. When you’re operating from fear, everything feels like a threat. Your brain goes into protection mode. You stop li...