Learning Leadership: The Five Fundamentals of Becoming an Exemplary Leader by James M. Kouzes & Barry Z. Posner

Author:James M. Kouzes & Barry Z. Posner [Kouzes, James M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781119144281
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2016-04-24T23:00:00+00:00

The Key Message and Action

The key message of this chapter is this: To both do your best and develop as a leader, you have to challenge yourself and face challenges head-on. You have to step outside your comfort zone. You have to seek new experiences, test yourself, climb over brick walls, experiment, make some mistakes, and keep ascending that learning curve. You're not growing until you feel you're pushing the edges.

Self-Coaching Action

Knowing that stretch assignments are among the most effective ways to learn and grow, reflect on your development needs, and make a list of such possibilities in your leadership journal. Select one that will challenge you—something that goes beyond your current level of skill and comfort. It shouldn't be something so difficult that you feel overly stressed and scared, but it needs to be something at the edges of your current capabilities. For example, if you want to improve your public-speaking abilities, you could personally stretch yourself by taking a course on public speaking or joining Toastmasters. Similarly, you could stretch yourself professionally by making a presentation at work or a national conference on something you might normally just share in written form.

Find ways to challenge yourself beyond your current capabilities. Maybe it's taking on an assignment in another country, interacting with a new customer group, or working in a functional area about which you don't know much. It could be learning to use a new computer application at work or creating a professional blog to write on issues about which you are passionate. Is there a place you could be volunteering or a task force you could join?

By the way, the learning experiences don't all need to connect directly with what you are doing right now or know today. Perhaps your growth opportunity can take the form of learning a new sport, language, or craft. It could be meeting people outside of your field or exposing yourself to movies, books, music, and places outside of your normal tastes. You could even revisit some things that you might not have liked or cared for in the past and give them a second, and possibly even new, look.

Keep coming back to this list. Challenge will always be your training ground for developing your leadership capabilities. Stretching yourself and facing new challenges isn't something to check off your list. It's something to keep doing continuously to improve and grow.

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