Pressure shows up when we need it to. It’s not always convenient or comfortable. But the moments we want to avoid, the resistance we wish would disappear, and the friction that slows us down are often the very things shaping who we are becoming. Growth rarely happens in comfort. It happens when we face resistance head-on, when we refuse to retreat, and when we choose conviction over convenience.
Only three things happen naturally in organizations:
friction, confusion, and underperformance.
Everything else requires leadership.
— Peter Drucker
Watch "Face Friction with Conviction" on the Educators Among Us Podcast
Friction ain't fiction. It's real: really valuable, really tragic, really educational.
The stone is polished with friction, as are we in the trials that test our faith and reveal a deeper reservoir of strength and ability needed for such a time as this.
Friction is one of those mixed blessings that can slow us down, make us better, teach patience and skills, while also neutralizing those who dare to lead change. Absent friction, we bend into complacency that abuses excuses and kill the will.
Great genius takes shape by contact
with another great genius, but,
less by assimilation than by friction.
— Heinrich Heine
We've seen too many courageous ed leaders battered for their conviction—they took a chance, made hard calls, and paid a high price for fighting friction. But that's a risk that real leaders endure to take people where they need to go rather than just managing them where they are in their addiction to status quo.
No one escapes the friction of personalities, priorities, practices, and power, and yet the best will do it again out of their conviction and refusal to cower.
We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing
that suffering produces endurance, and
endurance produces character, and
character produces hope.
― Romans 5:3-4
Creative, intelligent people can use the friction produced when people say 'No' to provoke productive conflict that leads to greater results for the greater good.
Friction is the tax paid to move forward on the journey to become our purpose.
Plan for it. Adjust to it. Use it to generate more constructive, productive energy.
Embrace the grind because that friction is the very force that is capable of transforming our unknown potential into unstoppable forward momentum.
Friction is inevitable. Use the friction to ignite your spirit, seize the opportunity, and soar.
Listen to "Face Friction with Conviction" on the Educators Among Us Podcast
