Why Smart Leaders Invest in Personal Development
This is an AI transcript of the podcast, please excuse any minor errors. Sadly there is still an all too common belief amongst leaders that they won’t benefit from personal development and it’s over rated. They believe that the technical skills that got them to where they are will be enough to keep them going. These leaders are intelligent, good at figuring things out and as long as they hit their targets, then whippi doodee and all is good. Honing their technical skills is something they still pay attention to. Looking at themselves and the soft skill side of leadership isn’t seen as important. One of the reasons for this is that they don’t hear or see leaders around them doing the sort of personal development that leads to increased self awareness, authenticity and real empowerment. Lifelong learning and continuous growth is something we know is fundamental to business success. If our staff arrive having left university and think “that’s it, I know it all, now let’s get on the career ladder” we’d laugh our heads off. There is a point in our leadership journey that our learning and growth isn’t technical, binary or external, rather it’s subjective, contextual and internal. That aspect of our growth and development can get a bit messy and messy isn’t something that’s talked about much in business and leadership development. I think of leadership as a profession, just like dentistry or accountancy. There are skills leaders should have, like delegation, influence, coaching, consequential thinking, to name but a few. Qualities we admire in great leaders include authenticity, humility, resilience, courage, empathy. How do we learn those skills and embody those qualities in ourselves? The answer, personal development. 7 Benefits Consistent personal development through a variety of approaches brings with it many benefits:- 1. Increased self-awareness. You can’t change what you don’t know. Which means if you don’t know, aka aren’t aware of something, you can’t improve, change or stop it. Authenticity – is so much harder when you don’t know who you really are. 2. Becoming the best version of you. Through reflection, study, practice, feedback you can enhance your strengths and lead on purpose. Of course, becoming the best version of you, also requires increased self-awareness. 3. Harness your talents. There are things we’re good at, and then there are our talents or gifts. These we often take for granted and therefore overlook. Personal Development can make you aware of these and then learn how to harness them further so they benefit you, your team and the business. 4. Demystifying your blind spots and weaknesses. We all have them. And sometimes a blind spot can hide within it a talent. Personal Development isn’t about eradicating the weaknesses, rather it’s understanding how to manage and minimize the impact. 5. Add more value. As we continually learn and grow, we look to apply and contribute more, typically through others or strategically. We talk about empowerment. For a start this involves us learning to have dominion over ourselves, to own our power. To become aware of when we give it away or when we look to control others / situations. Until we learn this, we’re never going to be comfortable empowering others, even if we talk about it and aspire to it. We’re going to sabotage our efforts here. 6. Comfortably Uncomfortable. Again our growth keeps us on the leading edge of our comfort zone. It’s short bouts of discomfort, continuously repeated and we build our leadership muscles. Let’s face it, if we’re truly being a leader and adding value then we’re going to be making some tough decisions. If we like feeling comfortable we’re going to seek that in the decisions we make. 7. Inspire others. I said at the beginning that one of the reason