Stop Chasing New Formulas to Fix Your Leadership
10 Things to Do Instead.
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If you’re reading every new and improved leadership book or article that comes your way, but still find yourself struggling or stuck, the issue isn’t a lack of knowledge.
When was the last time you actually put something you read or heard into practice? I don’t mean you tried something half-heartedly for a week and gave up or shared it with your coworkers under the subject, “hey I found this interesting, I thought you might too”.
No matter how many number-listed articles you read — you will not learn until you actually do something with the information.
Learning is essential. It’s good to read, to listen, to explore, to seek inspiration.
The problem is, many leaders confuse consuming with learning. They feel as long as they are consuming lots of data that they are learning and somehow this should magically manifest itself in new behaviors or results.
This is the equivalent of randomly visiting galleries with the expectation that you will become a master simply through regular proximity to great works of art.
We want the benefit without doing the work. We want change without changing. We want results without sacrifice.
In the end, most of what you will consume is, more or less, the same core leadership skills and principles repackaged a thousand different ways. And that’s okay because every unique perspective and story can be useful. But at some point, you know what you need to know, you just need to do it.
Here’s the call to action…
- Get focused. Pick an area you want to improve. Limit your focus to that one topic. Read books, articles, or listen to programs that cover that subject. (I used this approach to build my skills in change management. Over 1 month I read 5 books on the topic and kept a journal where I captured all the key points so I could form an action plan based on the ideas I found most useful.)
- Plan. Write down 3–5 significant actions you will take based on the points that grabbed your attention.
- Take Action. Apply those actions in the appropriate situations and let them really bake. It will be hard. Change is…
