Embracing Unstoppable Leadership
By Elsbeth Russell
Life often takes us down unexpected roads, demanding flexibility, resilience and unwavering determination.
These moments are often when leaders are made — or broken. The stakes are high, and those leading teams can’t afford to lose out to stress, doubt, negativity and intimidation from the competition.
No one is more familiar with these make it or break-it moments than Alex Weber, an American Ninja Warrior, award-winning host for NBC, acclaimed author and U.S. Lacrosse Coach of the Year.
Weber will be a speaker at the 2024 MHEDA Emerging Leaders Conference. In his presentation, “Unstoppable Leadership,” he will share his battle-tested system to achieve peak leadership and performance. It’s in these most challenging moments that Weber says leaders need to tap into their ultimate confidence, creativity, resourcefulness and peak performance, and he’ll share tips for how MHEDA members can increase confidence, excitement and purpose.
Weber — who is the only person to both host and compete on NBC’s American Ninja Warrior — will share his insights into self-leadership, overcoming challenges and fostering vibrant team dynamics with attendees. He recently sat down with The MHEDA Journal to share what he hopes attendees will take away from his session and his message.
“My goal is to give attendees a system for achieving their highest goals for themselves and the people who need them and leadership tools to overcome the challenges that come in our way externally and internally,” Weber said. “So how do we navigate the changes and uncertainty? How do we have a sincere confidence in ourselves to overcome challenges — no matter where they’re coming from and no matter how they’re coming?”
Despite his accomplishments, Weber has also had to face intense pressure, hard failures and his own limitations. It is through this sincere knowledge of both sides of achieving that Weber says he hopes to inspire young leaders in the critical moments when they need to be at their best — and when other people on their team need them to be at their best.
Reflecting on his pivot from host to competitor, Weber underscores the pivotal role of self-leadership in navigating high-stakes scenarios. In his presentation, he delves into the intricacies of showing up authentically even when you’re facing judgments and insecurities.
In fact, Weber faced those challenges himself, when his dream job as host of American Ninja Warrior took a turn he didn’t expect.
“The first year I was hosting, the job was basically just to be comedic and fail, and then on a dime it all changed,” he recalled. “I was asked to become an expert at this impossible sport, and I had to become good at it in order to keep this job that I loved so much. That’s really where I learned so much.”
Weber explained that this unexpected and unwanted pivot helped him to learn the importance of making the best of a situation.
“We absolutely can take a moment with our frustrations, disappointment and discouragement,” he said. “Then we need to bravely decide, ‘Hey, are you in or are you out?’ If we’re in, then this is the new state of the game, and all those feelings we have are valid and it’s time to fully commit to this new road.”
Pointing to a culture of cultivating gratitude, Weber said that to stay positive and beat burnout and fatigue it’s important to focus on what he calls, “the gifts of the day” or the small, everyday wins that often get overlooked during the busyness of life and the day-to-day grind.
“If you want to win the gifts of the journey, then you want to win the gifts of the day,” he explained. “The gifts of the journey are things like closing deals, hitting the mile markers and the revenue, but the gifts of the day are what keep us going.”
This also points back to the importance of leaders taking care of their own mental health. Indeed, Weber says it’s important for leaders to consider how to take care of themselves as much as their team members to ensure that their wins lead to success that is truly sustainable in the long run.
At the heart of Weber’s message lies a call to action — an invitation to confront internal and external challenges head-on. Emphasizing the importance of fostering a sincere belief in a leader’s ability to weather storms and emerge stronger on the other side, Weber also challenges emerging leaders to activate and align their teams by forging a shared sense of purpose and camaraderie.
“In this noisy, busy time, we all know it loosely, in italics, written in gray, but we don’t really know it in bold, clearly,” Weber said. “Just asking people, ‘Hey, what is tripping you up?’ And even more: ‘So what can I do so that you succeed?’ lets people know, ‘Wow, this person gets me and is on my team.’”
Weber also points out the importance of clarity in leadership, emphasizing how important it is to articulate clear team goals and purpose in order to inspire and mobilize others around the work you’re doing together.
“We all want to know that we matter,” Weber said. “Can you clearly point to where you’re going and then let each team member know how their work is needed to get you there?”
He says that emerging leaders can also draw from personal experiences and insights, using inspiration from past mentors and leaders they’ve followed in their own lives and distilling the essence of impactful leadership traits into their own journey as a leader.
It’s important to remember that those lessons can come from past leaders who were impactful in both positive and negative ways, Weber said. He advises that emerging leaders emulate leaders who made a big positive difference in their lives, but also points to the flip side: “What leader in your life really did not help you out and can you do the 180 degree of that?”
Ultimately, Weber hopes his session at MHEDA’s Emerging Leaders Conference will be a catalyst for personal and professional growth in the lives of session attendees. Through his comprehensive system for achieving goals and navigating uncertainties, he hopes to equip attendees with the tools to thrive, even through adversity.
By fostering mental resilience, cultivating supportive communities, and embracing the journey’s inherent gifts, Weber says emerging leaders can be empowered to chart a trajectory of unstoppable leadership.
Weber’s session planned for 3:00 – 3:45 p.m. on Thursday, July 25, promises to help emerging leaders embrace the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead with a renewed sense of purpose and determination and fueled by the unwavering belief that they are capable of achieving greatness.
