I’m all about what leaders should not do to make them more effective but often times when I want to grow I’m hungry to know what TO DO!
Here’s the traditional/baseline/average path of grow I have seen many leaders take:
Their growth happens PRIMARILY during significant leadership experiences, which for all of us are few and far between.
When I examine great leaders I see a very different path:
Notice that the amount of significant leadership experiences are the same, but instead of a line of plateaued growth in between there are smaller but extremely powerful experiences. These smaller experiences are powerful because you/me have the MOST CONTROL over this. We may not be able to lead a large project but we can start a small one amongst a group of like minded friends.
It may be five years before your title will give you the organizational freedom to live out your passions; it could take five minutes to start a facebook group or blog that mobilizes others to take coordinated action.
Keith Seabourn challenged people with this on a recent RE-Think Blogference post: “What are you going to do before the end of this year that you have never done before?” It might be a series of small steps in between or while you are waiting for that significant experience.