Cherry Picking Leadership
Do you have a book I can read about Leadership?
Do you know an online course that could help?
Hey, give me some Leadership advice, and don’t hold back and try to make me feel good.
I do read your Leadership email every week.
Becoming a better Leader is a journey that takes you from Day ONE of your Leadership adventure until the last breath you take. And that’s simply because you Lead everywhere you go. Not just at work, but in your private life, sports you participate in, with family and friends. Its everywhere. So if you decide to retire one day, your Leadership journey doesn’t come to an end.
So how do you get better? A method that works for me is to research everything that there is about Leadership. Don’t just limit yourself to books, articles, even that incredible Monday Leadership email I provide every week to Leaders in my company and others (my shameless plug). Talk to other Leaders, talk to non-Leaders, explore every media option out there. But keep an open mind. And make sure you understand that not everything you come across will be useful to you as a Leader.
The one thing that will get you in trouble is if you “cherry pick” and just engage in the Leadership stuff you want to engage in. You will find yourself missing out and basically lying to yourself. Your brain will direct you to the path of least resistance. You won’t challenge yourself to do the tough things you need to do to get better. An example? I had someone ask me what they could do to become a better Leader. I was very open and they probably viewed it as being brutal. I wanted them to get better, to get to that point where they wanted to get to in their Leadership journey. Sadly, I never heard another word from them. I wish them the best.
Its not just a book, or an online course, or even that brutal conversation someone has with you about being a better Leader. Its any and everything and you have to explore it all. If you truly want to become better, you have to put in the work. You have to be honest with yourself. You have to be honest to those around you.
Soak it all in. Then get better everyday.