Times are tough right now. Very tough.

“Duh” you may be thinking – I’m just stating the obvious.

We are just coming out of a global pandemic. Remote and hybrid work are here to stay. The labor market is the tightest it has been in decades. And on top of all that, the global recession is racing towards us hard and fast. Yikes.

It’s an extremely challenging time to be a leader. 

I was recently speaking at an executive summit, and someone asked me my main focus during these turbulent times. Given the number of people who approached me and sent notes and comments after the session, seems my answer hit a chord.

Although most leaders are heads down driving operational excellence (as they should be,) I suggested that we as leaders have another key role.

What is it?

Being the Chief Belief Officer.

Huh? What’s that? Never heard of CBO? 

Well, that’s because I made it up. 

Before accomplishing greater things, one must believe. Believe in the company. Believe in the opportunity. Believe in the team. Believe in themselves.

The best leaders inspire belief.

My top show at the moment is Ted Lasso. I love how Ted’s locker room “Believe” sign is always front and center. Ted points at the sign, jumps to hit the placard, and constantly draws the team’s attention to the prominent word on the wall. 

I’ve had Believe signs in my office for years. In fact, I’ve been talking about the importance of Belief for decades. I even wrote a keynote speech emphasizing the importance of belief back when I was selling books door to door in college. And that was when I was just 21! 

Belief is more important now than ever. Our people feel beat up. There is bad news out there every day – lay offs, physical and mental health crises, economic woes, social unrest, wars, burn-out. Ughh. It’s exhausting some days just getting by.

So how do we motivate our people to keep on going?

I share my take on 4 tips to build belief in this issue of The Edge - my monthly newsletter for executives. Check it out and let me know what you think.