Leadership: It’s a Journey - But There’s A Lesson Everywhere You Look

 When you think back on your leadership career… what are the moments you remember most?

Was it the moment you landed your first job in a leadership role? Maybe you were promoted to a manager or director - or maybe put in charge of an important internal company program?

Was it one of the first times you questioned your ability to lead?  You worked for hours ahead of the meeting to develop an agenda, anticipate your team’s needs and deliver strong messages, but the look on your team’s faces told you it didn’t resonate?

Or was it the first time you felt like you nailed the meeting?  Did you stand in the conference room for a few minutes after your team left to marinate in the positive energy that had just filled the room?

Or was it the way you handled the first time someone on your team quit? Maybe you realized you could have done more, or maybe you used the lessons in the experience to find areas in your company’s culture where you could make people feel more valued?

Or was it the time a new employee wrote you a handwritten card thanking you for investing time in helping them feel comfortable in the company and empowered to do their job well?

Or do you remember the time you brought “the” idea to the leadership meeting that changed the way the company looked at one of their internal processes for the better?

Leadership is a journey.

And for the great leaders, all of these experiences serve a purpose.

They allow us a chance to recognize where we need to grow.  They help us experience things in a way that will allow us to support and mentor others through their leadership journey.  They allow us to feel the joy of helping people as well as the struggle of missing the mark so we can always aim for the former.

What was it for you? What was one of the defining moments or greatest lessons you learned in leadership?