As our organization has grown over the past decade, our evolution has allowed me to shift my perspective in a lot of ways. We as leaders have to choose to lean into what makes us uncomfortable, the things we disagree with or dislike, so that we can understand them.
Negativity and pessimism are a trigger for me. Still, I am learning to explore why people react in certain ways so we can move forward. Is there an unseen lesson I can take from understanding something in opposition to the way I operate?
It’s not about changing who we are; it’s about being open to the journey and seeing things in a new way. It’s about understanding that we don’t have to agree with it or give into it to understand it and find ways to support our team members.
The openness to take on new perspectives has slowly shifted our leadership and allowed us to evolve well. Here are some shifts that are worth being recognized and developed.
A Perfect Strategy Doesn’t Hold a Candle to a Strong Culture.
Culture eats strategy for breakfast. We can have the most skilled and innovative minds on our team, but if they aren’t supported through a strong culture, it’s just a waste of resources. It’s a waste of time to micromanage the details. And it doesn’t serve the team to put the moving parts before the people.
The people we lead have given us permission to make them uncomfortable. Because the only way you grow is in your opportunity zone. That zone is outside of comfort, and the more we avoid it, the more painful it is in the long run. You can NOT grow without pain. Pain is any time you’re exerting more energy than the minimum requirement. Challenging others to grow is the key to leadership. Instead of micromanaging, which reads as a lack of trust no matter the intention behind it. It’s our job as leaders to provide support as they navigate the challenge. fear and respect they look similar, but the intent is totally different
Intelligence > Education
You don’t necessarily need a background in your field to be successful. It can even be a benefit because you don’t have to unlearn the things that have shifted over time. When you’re working head-down in an industry, you can have blinders on and keep doing things the way you always have.
When you ask questions, observe people, Find a mentor, and embrace what you don’t know, It doesn’t matter if you’ve been in this industry for 20 years or 2 months, with the right outlook and approach and working on yourself a little bit every day, you will experience growth and success.
There’s a big difference between education and intelligence. Smart is what you’re born with, education builds knowledge, and intelligence is what you do with it. Find ways to use what you have to simplify, streamline, and create something new and better.
Having a genius-level brain function in any industry used to hold different values years ago because you would have been the supercomputer. Now we all have access to those literally in the palm of our hands. Today, it’s more important to know how to use what we have.
Self-Made Doesn’t Mean You Did it Yourself,
It means you believed in yourself first. If you don’t believe in what you’re doing, it doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks, and vice versa. Self-made is just understanding that it’s your responsibility to see it through.
Self Made means you took ownership of knowing who to look to for support, learning who and what could benefit from your support, and how to use the resources and people around you to make something great.
Self-improvement is a major part of this. Taking time to focus on personal wellness and growth helps to manage your own reactions and know where to focus your priorities. Knowing how to build resilience and skills through working on your emotional intelligence and personal development will contribute to evolving into the kind of leader that people view as self-made.