At times I find myself overwhelmed with the amount of writing out there that describe the must do’s and do not do’s to achieve success in leadership. It can be confusing and disorienting for those on a leadership path.
The reading is great and no doubt can lead to having a new insight along the way.
My experience has taught me that Leadership is a series of consistent action weaved together to create a way of being. As I coach new and upcoming leaders my first question is “What type of leader do you see yourself being?”
Most find this question difficult to answer. I have been on the receiving end of that question and found it difficult to answer at the time. That uncomfortable process of defining who I wanted to be as a leader showed me many things about the qualities I had that were seldom named or described.
As I began to name those qualities and describe what they meant to me I realized two compelling things:
These realizations opened up a world of self-discovery that at times was confusing and messy. The black and white world that I felt so comfortable in was no longer the world I would walk in.
The learning was achieved by daily reflection, knowing that I was committed to doing my best, and having a top notch coach that would help me explore the domain of self.
It is easy to be fooled in today’s world that leadership is simple, but in fact it is not. Anything involved in interacting with other humans is not simple, never crystal clear and a realm that needs to be free from assumptions.
There is no fast journey to becoming an effective leader. Leaders are grown by desire to wake up tomorrow and do something different that they did the day before. Leaders embrace change in themselves before they expect others to change. Most importantly Leaders understand who they are as Leaders and as people.
