Leading Yourself to Lead Others
A weekly message to help leaders grow and thrive
At the end of every road, you meet yourself – S.N Behrman
Life is a journey of becoming ourselves. Learning how to grow ourselves is not easy.
I have found this to be true building a $100+ million organization over the last 20 years and leading myself on sabbatical over the last 6 months. I have spent my last 30 years supporting the personal growth of others. I am grateful to have had the opportunity. And, I have found leading others was an out not to do the hard work of growing myself.
With perspective of 6 months out of the CEO seat, I am more and more convinced that leading a team of people towards a goal benefiting the greater good is a vocation unlike any other. It is so rewarding, and often times, so hard. Why? Because leadership is an intensely personal act - it is one that always begins, and ends with knowing and leading yourself. Being alive with yourself is key to being alive for those you lead and serve.
I have found this to be true as a husband, father, friend, and as a leader. Who we are inescapably impacts our leadership journey. And yet, nurturing, feeding, growing who we are, particularly as leaders, seems to be getting harder and harder as we move through the 2020s. We face daily the mismatch of our hopes and the world in which those hopes exist.
We desire meaning, impact and contentment in a world that often feels disconnected, exhausting and full of discontentment.
We live in a culture that pushes too much to the surface to a social media post, yet we long to go deeper into what is most important.
We desire to do good, to make the world better, to have a positive impact, but it often feels achievable only at the expense of ourselves, our families and friends.
We live in an era of comparison. Comparisons with others plague us. Yet, if we could, we would just be satisfied with getting right with ourselves.
We want to be alive in our lives and leadership, yet, we constantly feel less than that.
Deep down, we have an inkling that leading for the greater good does not have to come at the cost of our aliveness. We should be able to lead with both impact and wholeness. There is a path. But how?
In becoming our true selves, we all take a path unique to each one of us. It is a road full of discovery and learning. In this weekly message, I will share some of the ideas, inspirations, and beautiful things that encourage me along this journey. I will be vulnerable, honest and looking for answers with you. I hope to support you taking steps towards leading yourself better so you can lead others better. While my path will be different than yours, I believe our journeys towards flourishing follow similar contours - built on shared human foundations that will take us to a much better place.
I am still learning how to better lead myself. I have a long way to go. Surprisingly, the more I experience, the less I really know. Embracing that complexity with wonder and sense of curiosity is what I hope we will share together. I will leave you with this question for the week:
Do you truly believe there is a better way to live your life, to lead yourself so you can lead others better? Write a short journal reflection answering this question.
See you next week!