Interested in Leadership, or Committed to Becoming a Leader?
"Nothing is impossible; there are ways that lead to everything,
and if we had sufficient will we should always have sufficient
means. It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are
impossible." -- Francois de La Rochefoucauld, 17th century
French philanthropist and social reformer
Many managers in leadership roles have stunted personal growth.
Their "years of leadership experience and learning" is formal
education (usually technical and/or management) followed by a
year or two of experience multiplied twenty or thirty times.
Here's an all too typical dinner conversation I had with a
senior manager in the middle of a two-day improvement workshop I
was running with a senior management team. The company was in
crisis. It was struggling just to stay even in its industry.
"What do you do to personally improve the leadership skills we
discussed today?"
"I am afraid I don't get much time to do anything."
"How many leadership or organization effectiveness books do you
read a year?"
"One or two if I am lucky."
"What about seminars, workshops, or executive learning forums?"
"Well, I did get to one... No, that was two years ago."
"Do you listen to audio tapes in your car?"
"No, I am either winding down, gearing up, or talking on the
phone."
"How often does your management team meet to review progress,
reflect on its performance, and plan for improvements?"
"This is the first meeting we've had in a few years."
The 20th century American critic and novelist, John Gardner,
once said, "all excellence involves discipline and tenacity of
purpose." Both are critical elements in leadership development
and personal effectiveness. Our tenacity and clarity of purpose
and vision can help to spin the daily, weekly, and monthly
disciplined habit strands. These become the cables that will
either raise our performance or drag us down. "Paying the price"
of personal improvement often focuses too much on the pain and
sacrifice. I've found instead that focusing on the gain of
improvement, by keeping my preferred future and purpose firmly
in front of me, has been my biggest improvement habit booster.
It's impossible to put an exact number of hours on the time that
effective leaders invest in their own personal improvement. But
I would peg the minimum around ten percent. So if we work 50
hours per week, that's about 20 hours, or two to three days per
month. The type of personal development varies widely. Reading
is my single biggest personal development catalyst. I started
getting up 45 minutes earlier to exercise and then read personal
development or spiritual material, pray and meditate for over
almost two decades now. It's proven to be one of the best habits
I ever developed for starting my day with more energy and
constant refocus on my life's highest priorities.
I read organization improvement and leadership development
material in the evenings or weekends when I am at home or on
airplanes (it's all too easy to dribble away this wonderfully
rich, uninterrupted reading and thinking time) and hotel rooms
when I travel. I find reading with a pen and my notebook
computer nearby the most beneficial. I've also found that
listening to audio cassettes in my car is a terrific way to
catch up to speakers or authors I want to hear and conference
presentations.
There are as a many learning styles and pathways to personal
development as there are leaders using them. A partial list
includes: books, magazines, newspapers, and newsletters; special
education or business television programs; customer research;
pilots, experiments and "clumsy tries"; personal coaching and
mentoring; benchmarking internal and external "best practices";
seminars, workshops, and skill development sessions; performance
review, assessment, celebration and refocus; operational
planning and strategy development sessions; customer, supplier,
and internal team/organization member feedback; system and
process measurement systems; audio and video tapes; computer,
on-line, or multi media programs; peer groups and networks
outside our organizations; teaching and training others;
industry conferences and trade shows; university or college
courses; keeping a personal journal; self evaluation,
reflection, and improvement planning; consultants; and study
tours.
Many roads lead to learning. There is no best road. The key is
to develop a multitude of interconnected personal learning
approaches and the discipline to make our continuous personal
improvement a lifelong habit.