One of my favorite topics for personal study is the topic of Leadership. Leadership, whether we want to acknowledge it or not, impacts every area of life. Relationships, career, and finances are all impacted by our ability, or lack of ability, to lead. Fortunately, if you are interested in growing in this area, you have no shortage of opportunity. There is, in fact, so much information about how to be a better leader, that it can become overwhelming! With so much information available to us, how do we decide what is relevant and what is not? While I do my best to learn everywhere that I can, I’ve found it helpful to consume information that aligns with the following principles.

3 Principles for Growth as a Leader

1. Leadership is Personal

Your leadership journey needs to start with learning to be a better leader for yourself. Its strange to me that this needs to be said, but there are so many “Leaders” that just don’t get it. We need to experience growth in our own lives before we can begin to help others experience it in theirs. The best leaders are those who have struggled to develop discipline, pushed beyond the good in pursuit of the best, and have the character to do their best even when no one is watching. 

2. Don’t Compartmentalize-Be a Leader. Don’t Do Leadership.

Have you ever met someone who is a great “leader” at work or when pursuing something that really matters to them but then falls flat in the other, less important areas of life? Have you been this person? So much leadership content is about teaching us how to DO leadership when we really need to BE LEADERS! Doing leadership means that you know how to apply specific techniques to specific situations. Being a leader means that you will move the people in your life forward regardless of circumstance or situation. Techniques are helpful, but they do not make one a leader.

3. Leadership Begins with You but it’s Not About You

None of this is about you! Being a leader should not be about who is in charge. Leadership is about leveraging your skills, abilities and opportunities to help those in your life move forward. It’s about serving. Your pursuit of growth as a leader should be framed by your desire to help others. When you understand this principle, the urgency to learn grows and the application of that knowledge becomes clear.

We are living at a wonderful time in history when there is more information available than you could ever get to on nearly any topic. We are blessed to have books, and podcasts, blogs, and seminars that can help us to grow as leaders. With so much available to us, though, how do we decide what to consume and what to leave alone? Consume and apply leadership content that resonates with the 3 principles above.

Leadership is personal.

Be a Leader. Don’t Do Leadership.

Its not about you.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash