What Is Your Leadership Journey?

Establishing Your Leadership Journey Will Only Help You Become A Stronger Leader

If there is one thing that I know to be true when it comes to leading, it is that leadership in all essence of the word is a journey.  Your leadership journey starts at the point in time you begin to lead, no matter if it is simply leading yourself to greater accomplishments, or leading many.  Your leadership journey is just that, a journey in which it will take you to high points, low points, and every point in between.  Leadership should always be considered a verb, not just a motionless adjective that entitles a person.  So what is your leadership journey currently?  I have been refining mine over the past several weeks and have boiled it down into three buckets to help me stay focused.  Keep on reading to see what my leadership journey is and how it stacks up against your leadership journey.

A Leadership Journey Should Always Have An Aim

A journey in every situation needs to have an aim, an end goal.  For some it could be to travel the world and experience different cultures.  That is a broad aim but at least there is an aim associated with it.  For others the journey could be more specific such as be a New York Times best selling author, or CEO of a Fortune 500 company within x amount of years.  Any journey, especially a leadership journey needs to tailor to your motivations and passions, otherwise you will burn out when multiple challenges arise.  As I mentioned in the opening part of this post I have been trying to hone in on my leadership journey which will ultimately shape my focus for the next few years.  I strongly believe that everyone should identify what their leadership journey is and where it will take them then reassess that leadership journey after a selected period.  For me it is every 3 years.  Life changes, new things pop up and old things fade into the shadows.  By looking at my leadership journey every three years and doing an audit on it, it will allow me to see if my journey has changed, or if I need to increase particular focus in one or more areas in order to stay focused on the aim.  Here is my current leadership journey bucket list:

Bucket #1 Learn And Grow Each Day

It amazes me each day how much information is available and if people simply see that and tap into it, the likelihood of more innovation and new crop of leaders will arise.  I am challenging myself to fill my knowledge gaps each day by learning something new each day.  It is hard and it takes discipline and focus to do so.  But once you start down this path you will realize how much there is to learn and how much you have learned.  It has been an enriching experience.  For me, learning and growing each day should be a focus for all leaders.  If you feel like you indeed know it all then I have to say you are mistaken.  You can never know enough, and you can never know it all especially when it comes to leadership.  This part of my leadership journey has been a fun and a trying experience.

Bucket #2 Lead By Example

Lead by example has become a buzz word for many.  But if you don’t know what that example is how can you lead effectively?  Leading by example is about knowing and living your values, having your actions align with your words.  It is also about chasing your passions and dreams.  This part of the leadership journey has been fun and challenging as well for me.  Holding myself to a high standard and doing corrective adjustments when I veer off course is hard at times, but well worth it.  Leading by example and holding yourself accountable with all the details is a growth experience like no other.  By leveraging learning and growing each day with leading by example it has thrust me into new situations which challenge me to lead by example at a higher level.

 Bucket #3 Empowering Others To Lead

It is one thing during a leadership journey to focus on yourself to become a stronger leader.  But that is not what leadership is about.  Leadership is about leading others to reach their potential.  By empowering others to lead it will only help them with their individual leadership journey and also help you to lead by example and leverage what and how you learn and grow each day.  All leaders need to take the time to help others lead on any scale.  It shows you value them and trust them to take the lead.  This creates a great climate of trust and drives fear out which is crucial for open communication and an innovative spirit.  This is crucial for a leadership journey to stay in action.

Closing Thoughts On A Leadership Journey

My leadership journey is comprised of three buckets.  I defined them as buckets because each on can be unpacked to great lengths as to what each fully entail.  They are also interdependent, playing off of each other to increase the biggest ROI possible.  In leadership nothing happens in isolation, rather interdependence.  Take your leadership journey seriously.  Create a leadership journey that you will follow and that will hold you accountable.  The more you invest in yourself and others the more enriching your life will be.  Your leadership journey is a process.  A perfect example of a leadership journey would be the difference between a marathon and a sprint. Both have experiences associated with them but your leadership journey should be more along the lines of a marathon.  What is your leadership journey?

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