Personal Growth = Transformation
“Don’t go through life, grow through life.”
– Eric Butterworth
A long time ago, when I graduated from college, I had some innocent views of what leadership looks like. Until one day, I was put in charge of leading a group of hourly employees who were more knowledgeable than me and really didn’t care much for my title or my leadership style. Because I needed results from my team, and a job, I tried to become a cool, easy-going leader. My limited understanding of leadership led me to believe that if I got them to like me, I could motivate them. It didn’t work. In fact, it got worse.
Because of that experience, I knew something had to change – if not the employees or the job, then me. So, I started to do things that transformed me from the inside out. After a few months, my personal growth led me to become more confident in my ability to lead. My employees and my employer reaped the benefits. Soon a new company recruited me to turn around a struggling division of workers. Once we had transformed, we won several state and one national award. I was then recruited to a major university to transform one of their divisions that was directly linked to recruiting students. I began to teach the power of personal growth to them, and many of those people went on to become top leaders in their fields while the university won 5 national championships for our work. And ever since then, I have taught hundreds of people how to start, build and use personal growth to transform themselves into highly effective and influential leaders.
What about you? Where are you in your understanding of yourself, your potential, and your abilities to lead? Will you be growing your leadership this year or will it be another year of struggle and heartache?
“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”
– Viktor E. Frankl
Cultivate your greatness,
Jeff
