How much impact is your leadership having in your professional and personal responsibilities? What leadership legacy are you hoping to leave? Maybe this year is a good time to ‘level up’.
A new year, and a new thread to this blog. Making good on my strap-line of ‘technology disruption | strategic thinking | leadership’ I am going to dedicate Tuesdays over the next few weeks to exploring the art of leadership.
Hopefully my short reflections will prompt you to examine and grow your personal leadership skills and increase the legacy that you will leave those who come after you.
For those of you who follow my blog for the telecoms & technology analysis, don’t fear, there will still be some of that (on other days of the week) and hopefully you will find the leadership thinking equally helpful in your role. (If this change in tack makes you groan, don’t suffer in silence, leave me a comment!)
Why leadership? Well, I have decided to make this year a time to grow my leadership skills further, and there here are three reasons why:
1. It determines your impact. There is an African proverb that states “if you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go together”. Sometimes in the past my vision and sense of urgency has led me to run ahead of the teams I’ve been leading. I have learned that bringing people on the journey is much more important than rushing out of the door! If you want to maximise the impact from your vision and ideas, you need other people – and so you need leadership skills.
2. You can always learn more. We never max out on our leadership skills. It is a complex, multi-faceted topic and there is always room to grow. And investing in leadership is always going to pay a dividend. I have found that as I have studied and applied the principles of leadership over the last few years, I have grown enormously and had the satisfaction of seeing other people grow and develop – but I have also seen how much more there is to learn and improve. This is a lifetime’s journey.
3. The world needs your leadership. Leadership brings change, and there are so many areas of life where change – and therefore leadership – is needed. Your work. Your community. Your voluntary organisation. Your church. Even your family! Leading is a way of serving, and the world needs people who are prepared to serve.
I am passionate about good leadership and feel I have insights to share, but certainly don’t want to hold myself up as a guru. I’m sure you have insights I need to hear on this too. Let’s do this journey together!
As I start this blogging series, I’d love to know: what have been your most influential leadership blogs, books and mentors? Please leave a comment below.
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