As part of my own personal leadership journey and self development I aim to read at least one relevant book every month. I am a great fan of John C. Maxwell, internationally recognised leadership expert and author of books selling in excess of 13 million copies. I have read 3 of those books to date; The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader and most recently Good Leaders Ask Great Questions. I love the content and style in which they are written, find them easy to read, understand and implement the ideas presented. In his 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership book, in Chapter 3, The Law of Process he writes about how he got started on his quest for leadership excellence and a meeting that changed his life.
The first question asked of him at that meeting was this;
“What is your plan for personal growth?”
After talking around the subject for several minutes he was asked a second question;
“You don’t have a plan do you?”
After acknowledging that in fact he had no personal growth plan and was leaving it all to luck and chance he heard the words that changed his life;
“Growth is not an automatic process John, if you’re going to grow you are going to have to grow on purpose”
Following the meeting he took his very first intentional step towards personal leadership growth by enrolling on a programme with Success Motivation Inc’, a sister company to Leadership Management International. He goes on to write that “personal leadership doesn’t develop in a day it takes a lifetime”, “that to become an excellent leader you must work on it every day” and that “what a person does on a regular and consistent basis gets him ready, no matter what the goal”. Unlike the stock market there are no successful “day traders” in personal leadership development.
History shows us that all successful organisations continuously face and overcome challenges. The challenges may change but the qualities that define the best leaders do not. These qualities are not learned in an afternoon, nor are they learned from a single book (or even 3); a new approach is not an online course. They are developed over a life time of working on a personal growth plan, changing from the inside out, mastering new habits whilst identifying and utilising personal strengths, the personal leadership journey.
As the quote says “To become the leader you want to be on the outside, first you must become the leader you need to be on the inside” John C. Maxwell
So what’s the first step?
We believe there are 6 essentials to personal leadership and the first of those, the first step, the first essential is to accept personal responsibility for yourself and your life. When you take responsibility for your decisions, your attitudes and your behaviours, your words and actions, when you stop looking for excuses, when you stop looking for someone or something to blame you gain enormous benefits.
Whatever you achieve in your life is all your fault, what would you be happy to take the blame for?
Whether good or bad, own your decisions, own your mistakes, own your successes. Be ready to acknowledge not all of your ideas are the best ones, be prepared to seek out new ideas from other sources, admit you need help and go looking for it, admit your shortcomings and do something proactively to improve. Ask for and accept feedback, negative as well as positive.
Marshall Goldsmith invites you to do the following exercise:
Make a list that starts off I am successful because I …….. follow that up with another list I am successful in spite of being ………..
For example: I am successful because I an hard working, motivated, am goal directed, like people etc
I am successful in spite of being a poor listener, a little assertive, opinionated and stubborn
Make it a goal, one at a time, to do more of the because of things and less of the in spite of things. Take Personal Responsibility for improving yourself one day at a time.
Taking responsibility for your life requires courage and often involves taking risks. This sits squarely on a positive self image.
When you know who you are, where you, where you are headed and how you are going to get there you can confidently assume responsibility for taking the risks necessary to achieve your goals.
If you would like more information about our Introduction to Personal leadership Workshop scheduled for March 20th please drop me a line on mark@orangeandblueaction.com
As part of my own personal leadership journey and self development I aim to read at least one relevant book every month. I am a great fan of John C. Maxwell, internationally recognised leadership expert and author of books selling in excess of 13 million copies. I have read 3 of those books to date; The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader and most recently Good Leaders Ask Great Questions. I love the content and style in which they are written, find them easy to read, understand and implement the ideas presented. In his 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership book, in Chapter 3, The Law of Process he writes about how he got started on his quest for leadership excellence and a meeting that changed his life.
The first question asked of him at that meeting was this;
“What is your plan for personal growth?”
After talking around the subject for several minutes he was asked a second question;
“You don’t have a plan do you?”
After acknowledging that in fact he had no personal growth plan and was leaving it all to luck and chance he heard the words that changed his life;
“Growth is not an automatic process John, if you’re going to grow you are going to have to grow on purpose”
Following the meeting he took his very first intentional step towards personal leadership growth by enrolling on a programme with Success Motivation Inc’, a sister company to Leadership Management International. He goes on to write that “personal leadership doesn’t develop in a day it takes a lifetime”, “that to become an excellent leader you must work on it every day” and that “what a person does on a regular and consistent basis gets him ready, no matter what the goal”. Unlike the stock market there are no successful “day traders” in personal leadership development.
History shows us that all successful organisations continuously face and overcome challenges. The challenges may change but the qualities that define the best leaders do not. These qualities are not learned in an afternoon, nor are they learned from a single book (or even 3); a new approach is not an online course. They are developed over a life time of working on a personal growth plan, changing from the inside out, mastering new habits whilst identifying and utilising personal strengths, the personal leadership journey.
As the quote says “To become the leader you want to be on the outside, first you must become the leader you need to be on the inside” John C. Maxwell
So what’s the first step?
We believe there are 6 essentials to personal leadership and the first of those, the first step, the first essential is to accept personal responsibility for yourself and your life. When you take responsibility for your decisions, your attitudes and your behaviours, your words and actions, when you stop looking for excuses, when you stop looking for someone or something to blame you gain enormous benefits.
Whatever you achieve in your life is all your fault, what would you be happy to take the blame for?
Whether good or bad, own your decisions, own your mistakes, own your successes. Be ready to acknowledge not all of your ideas are the best ones, be prepared to seek out new ideas from other sources, admit you need help and go looking for it, admit your shortcomings and do something proactively to improve. Ask for and accept feedback, negative as well as positive.
Marshall Goldsmith invites you to do the following exercise:
Make a list that starts off I am successful because I …….. follow that up with another list I am successful in spite of being ………..
For example: I am successful because I an hard working, motivated, am goal directed, like people etc
I am successful in spite of being a poor listener, a little assertive, opinionated and stubborn
Make it a goal, one at a time, to do more of the because of things and less of the in spite of things. Take Personal Responsibility for improving yourself one day at a time.
Taking responsibility for your life requires courage and often involves taking risks. This sits squarely on a positive self image.
When you know who you are, where you, where you are headed and how you are going to get there you can confidently assume responsibility for taking the risks necessary to achieve your goals.
If you would like more information about our Introduction to Personal leadership Workshop scheduled for March 20th please drop me a line on mark@orangeandblueaction.com