Leaders are Learners
In a study of ninety top leaders from a variety of fields, leadership experts Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus made a discovery about the relationship between growth and leadership....
"It is the capacity to develop and improve their
skills that distinguishes leaders from their followers."
Successful leaders are learners. And the learning process is ongoing, a result of self-discipline and perseverance. The goal EACH DAY must be to get a little better, to build on the previous day's progress.
If you continually invest in your leadership development, the inevitable result is growth over time. Although it's true that some people are born with greater natural gifts than others, the ability to lead is really a collection of skills, nearly all of which can be learned and improved.
But that process doesn't happen overnight. Leadership is complicated. It has many facets: respect, experience, emotional strength, people skills, discipline, vision, momentum, timing -- the list goes on. Leaders require time and a lot of seasoning to reach the pinnacle of effectiveness. Ultimate effectiveness, however, hinges upon proactive and continuous learning. Embrace the concept of lifelong learning and you'll accelerate your leadership development.
How would you rate the overall quality of your own "learning program"? Consider these questions:
- What have you done in the past week to improve upon a skillset?
- What books have you read in the past month that you learned from?
- Are your learning goals written down?
- How well do your learning goals sync up with your leadership development needs?
- What can you do to get your learning program back on track?
Source: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, John C. Maxwell.
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Quotes to Inspire
- Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.
- John F. Kennedy, speech prepared for delivery in Dallas the day of his assassination, November 22, 1963
35th president of US 1961-1963 (1917 - 1963)
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