Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and golachieving. This
Speaker 1: is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul
Speaker 1: Fello Aledo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the Seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode seven sixteen. Today we're talking about something every
Speaker 2: single leader has experienced, something you cannot avoid, something that
Speaker 2: will test you, expose you, and either break you or
Speaker 2: build you. Setbacks. Not the small ones, not the easy
Speaker 2: ones you brush off by lunchtime. I'm talking about the
Speaker 2: ones that hit you in the gut, the ones that
Speaker 2: make you question your decisions, your leadership, your confidence, the
Speaker 2: ones that keep you up at night staring at the ceiling,
Speaker 2: replaying every move you made. Every leader listening to this
Speaker 2: right now has one. Maybe you're in the middle of
Speaker 2: it right now. Here's what separates average leaders from elite leaders.
Speaker 2: Average leaders try to escape setbacks. Elite leaders turn them
Speaker 2: into comebacks. And that's not a motivational line. That is
Speaker 2: a decision. Let me take you into the field for
Speaker 2: a second. In EMS, when a call go sideways, you
Speaker 2: do not get to pause the situation and say hold on,
Speaker 2: let's reset. You're in it you are making decisions in
Speaker 2: real time. You're dealing with the outcome, whether you like
Speaker 2: it or not. Leadership is the same way you missed
Speaker 2: a promotion, you lost a key employee, a project failed,
Speaker 2: a decision backfired, your team lost trust for a moment,
Speaker 2: maybe you even lost trust in yourself. That is your moment.
Speaker 2: That is your red key moment. And here's the truth.
Speaker 2: Most people will not tell you. Your comeback starts the
Speaker 2: second you stop asking why did this happen to me
Speaker 2: and start asking what am I going to do with this?
Speaker 2: Because setbacks are not the end of your story. They
Speaker 2: are raw material, and most leaders waste it. They hide
Speaker 2: from it, They blame others, They spin the narrative with
Speaker 2: corporate buzzwords. They try to smooth it over and move on.
Speaker 2: That is not leadership. That is damage control. Real leadership
Speaker 2: steps into it. So let me give you a field
Speaker 2: tested framework to turn your setbacks into comebacks. First, own
Speaker 2: it fully, no deflection, no excuses, no pointing fingers. Even
Speaker 2: if it was not entirely your fault, you own your
Speaker 2: piece of it. You own how you respond to it,
Speaker 2: You own what happens next. Accountability is the foundation of
Speaker 2: every comeback. Second, slow down and study it. Most leaders
Speaker 2: want to move fast after a setback. They want to
Speaker 2: prove something. They want to fix it immediately, and I
Speaker 2: think that's a mistake. You need to break it down.
Speaker 2: What actually happened? Where did it start to go off track?
Speaker 2: What signals did you miss? What assumptions were wrong. This
Speaker 2: is where experience is built, not in the win, in
Speaker 2: the breakdown. Third, communicate it, and this is where most
Speaker 2: leaders fail. They go quiet, They avoid the conversation. They
Speaker 2: hope it fades away. Your team is watching you, They
Speaker 2: are reading every move you make. Silence creates doubt. Step forward,
Speaker 2: address it, Be clear, be honest, be direct. You do
Speaker 2: not need a perfect speech. You need real leadership. Say
Speaker 2: here is what happened. Here is what we learned. Here
Speaker 2: is what we're doing next. That is how trust is rebuilt. Fourth,
Speaker 2: adjust an act. A comeback is not a speech. It
Speaker 2: is not a mindset. It is an action. What are
Speaker 2: you doing differently now? Are you changing your process? Are
Speaker 2: you tightening your standards? Are you having different conversations with
Speaker 2: your team? If nothing changes, then nothing changes. Your comeback
Speaker 2: is defined by your next move, not your last mistake.
Speaker 2: And finally, use it. This is where elite leaders separate themselves.
Speaker 2: They do not bury setbacks. They carry them. They use
Speaker 2: them to teach, They use them to sharpen their instincts.
Speaker 2: They use them to guide their future decisions. Your setback
Speaker 2: becomes your advanta if you are willing to learn from it.
Speaker 2: Think about aviation for a second. Every incident, every near miss,
Speaker 2: every failure gets studied, documented and shared, not to shame anyone,
Speaker 2: but to make sure it never happens again. That is
Speaker 2: how systems improve, That is how leaders improve. So let
Speaker 2: me bring this home for you. Your setback is not
Speaker 2: your identity. It is your training ground. It is your
Speaker 2: leadership lab, and it is your opportunity to show your
Speaker 2: team who you really are when things do not go
Speaker 2: your way. Anyone can lead when everything is working. The
Speaker 2: real leaders show up when everything is not. So if
Speaker 2: you are in a setback right now, I want you
Speaker 2: to lean into it, own it, study it, communicate it,
Speaker 2: act on it, and use it because your comeback is
Speaker 2: not coming someday. It starts today, right now, with your
Speaker 2: next decision. Your team does not need a perfect leader,
Speaker 2: They need a leader who shows them how to recover,
Speaker 2: how to respond, and how to rise when things get tough.
Speaker 2: That is what they will remember. That is what they
Speaker 2: will follow. Turn your setbacks into comebacks and you will
Speaker 2: not only change your leadership, you will change the people
Speaker 2: around you. This has been the seven Minute Leadership Podcast
Speaker 2: and I thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: For more Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot
Speaker 1: com