Leaders Seek to Improve Themselves

 

There is widespread agreement that effective leaders must invest in themselves and seek to develop and improve.  The best leaders understand that landing a position and/or status as a leader is not an end, but rather, just a beginning.  Effective leaders are constantly seeking to improve themselves.  While this may seem obvious on the surface, not everyone in a leadership position really realizes just how critical this is for their success and the success of their organization.  With that in mind, here are some fundamental best practices for leaders to develop themselves. (Yes, I have already covered bits and pieces of this in other postings, but here they are all together.)

1) READ

I have covered this in depth in my post of November 26, 2023. I recommend that you revisit that post for an in-depth discussion of the Reading Leader.  The bottom line is that effective leaders read to improve themselves.  It also seems that the more successful a leader is, the more she or he reads.  Reading provides new information, different perspectives, and greater insight that we might otherwise not discover.  Leaders read and they read differently!  Readers read daily!

2) LISTEN

In this age of mass multimedia options, this should not be all that challenging.  There is a plethora of audio options from podcasts to CDs to streaming programs to social media apps.  Whatever format works best for you, you will be wise to work it.  Listen on a regular basis (I recommend daily here as well).  As is true with reading, I also recommend that you listen to a variety of topics and speakers.  This broadens your mind and your perspective.  You will not agree with everything you hear... that's OK.  In fact, that is good.  The effective leader is able to understand and intelligently discuss both sides of any issue.  That's leadership.  That is how it is supposed to work.  In this polarized era of only listening (or viewing) to things that feeds our own belief system, we lose sight of a greater perspective.  Let's be honest here... none of us are ever 100% right all the time.  Listening to differing viewpoints makes the effective leader more informed and much more credible!

3) ASSOCIATE

Effective leaders associate with others who are on the same journey that they are on.  We have all heard it before: you are who you hang out with! (yes, I know... poor grammar).  There is power in associating with people who understand your situation and what you are experiencing.  I have discussed this before: Ben Franklin formed his own group for this very purpose.  I discussed this in detail in my November 25, 2023, post.  See it for details.  The bottom line here is that associating with like-minded people needs to be intentional and consistent.

4) NETWORK

There are some who would consider this part of associating, but I list is separate as I believe is needs special attention.  Effective Leaders need to network and have a network.  In his book The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell discusses three types of people: Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen.

The Connector has a very large network of people and can match someone whom they know who needs X with someone whom they know who does X.  They connect them.  Effective leaders need to be or need to know a Connector.

The Maven is a logical keeper of detailed knowledge.  They know stuff!  They are logical and analyze almost everything to discover whether it makes sense.  Effective leaders need to be or need to know a Maven.

The Salesman is that person who is incredibly persuasive.  They have that charisma and charm and can convince just about anybody of anything.  They are great promoters!  Effective leaders need to be or need to know a Salesman.

Not every leader will be all three.  The reality is that we all would be great if we were just one of these.  My point here is that the effective leader does not have to be all three.  In fact, the effective leader doesn't necessarily have to be even one of these, BUT they do need at least one of these types of people in their network.  Effective leaders will build a network that includes all three to increase their own growth and, as a result, the growth of their organization.

Effective leaders make a conscience concerted effort to create and implement a plan for self-improvement.  As I have pointed out before, leadership and leadership development is a process and not an event.  The effective leader understands this and makes self-improvement part of their daily routine!