To lead a company toward success, its manager must have - among other hard and soft skills - mental strength. Fortunately, this is not something abstract from the domain of "sit on the couch and talk to me," a few simple advice will do.
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First and before anything else, mentally strong managers are here to stay. They are not interested in fast and short success, they want to success in the long run because no immediate result can stand a comparison with a success after a long period of time.
As a rule of thumb: the longer you work, the greater the success will be. To keep them on track, they mark every milestone and remind themselves that's another step toward the final goal.
Mentally strong managers don't cry when they encounter a situation that's not under their control. They are very well aware that their respond is much more important than complaining about the airplane that's late or the competition that made a very strong move. They know that complaining is just a waste of time and it's better to spend that time to something useful.
If you take a look at successful people, you'll notice that they didn't complain about a teacher that doesn't like them, circumstances that are not perfect, too much competition, bad start...
Simply put, they don't feel sorry for themselves. Again, that's a waste of time and they know that life's not fair all the time. So, they embrace things as they are and work to the best of their abilities to create as much as they can.
Mentally strong managers are calm. We mean, really calm. Like Britons. When the fate hits, their answer is "Very well, let's move on, shall we?" That's because they know there's no use of - as some would say - "when you're down, sit and think about it". They simply don't fall and if they do, they will stand on their feet as fast as possible. Because, while others are thinking what hit them, strong managers are working.
Another thing you'll see in mentally strong people is very clear reaction: if something is good they will say it, if something is bad they will say it. They are not trying to please every employee in the company just for the sake of peace in the house. This is a very fast and good way to move forward fast, without being involved in dubious relationships with others.
And there are two key characteristics: Mentally strong manager may fail again and again, and they will use every fail to learn something. They will never say "This is my 10th fail, maybe I should give up..." No, they will move on, smarter than before.
Another important characteristic is that they don't think about the past more than necessary. They learn from the past but they are not "If I did that instead of this..." type of people. Past is past and can't be changed, but with mentally strong personality the future can be changed for the better. Much better. ■