Leadership is About Growing

Leadership is About Growing April 2, 2013

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Leadership is about growing. Leaders grow, and they engender growth in others.

Leaders grow.

The experiences that motivate us the most as leaders are the times when we grow the most. We grow wiser or more effective as we learn from our mistakes. We grow deeper as we gain more intimate appreciation for our truest selves. We grow into new responsibilities to meet new challenges, and we may grow complacent. We grow by working as well as we can, and we grow by spending time in reflection.

We grow by drawing strength from our roots and by drawing inspiration from the bright lights around us.

Leaders help organizations grow.

Leaders who are growing help organizations grow. As they grow deeper, stronger, and wiser, leaders recognize the importance of contributing to the world around them.

Organizations reflect the people who give them life. Some grow into new life, and some grow rigid. As leaders grow deeper in their own selves, their rootedness nurtures growth in their organizations. Some are thirsty for new growth, and some resist it in fear.

Growing leaders appreciate the culture and the structures that connect us, and how our own growth spreads through those connections. Growing leaders help the structures learn to support new growth.

Leaders help other people grow.

In addition to shaping the ways organizations grow, leaders engender growth in the people around them.

The leaders who inspire me to grow are good listeners and good teachers. They help me see new ways I can continue growing into myself.

They may recommend ways of doing things I have not tried before. They may suggest that I change the ways I understand things, or that I stop some practices altogether.

They help me recognize who I can become.

How are you growing?

Whose leadership has helped you grow?

[Image by iantmcfarland]


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