[March 25, 2016] My old American History professor once told me that the best known people of the past had a record of personal growth. Leaders, in his opinion, had unremitting personal growth from childhood onward. Not only was this was their secret to success, there was no exception he could find.
It was clear to me at the time that successful people are internally driven – they have passion – to accomplish great things. It was my first indication that the best leaders never stop learning, never stop improving themselves. My experience tells me that a person is social, intellectual, spiritual, and is influenced by the family. The happiest and most successful people consciously work to improve each of these.
Sean Covey in his bestselling 2014 book, Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens and in the theme in his many books, tells us that “sharpening the saw” is about constantly renewing ourselves in the basic areas of life. He tells the story about a lumberjack who is working hard to cut down trees but is frustrated by his dull saw. The dull saw makes it difficult to do his job but when asked why doesn’t he stop and sharpen the saw, he says then he would have to stop working.
It’s the habit of the effort of personal growth that increases our capacity of effectiveness. Like Covey’s lumberjack, all of us must take the time and make the effort to improve ourselves. Making excuses that we simply don’t have the time shows immaturity and weakness in leaders. The drive to improve ourselves must come from the inside and no one else – absolutely no one –has the responsibility to help us, just ourselves.
In my experiences with the military it is usually easy to tell the difference in those who seek improvement and dedicate the necessary energy to improve themselves and those who have chosen not to. The former are winners; they go places and make things happen. The latter are followers, self-proclaimed victims, and have lost control of their lives and experience frustration like the lumberjack in Covey’s story.
Unremitting personal growth means taking control, accountability, and responsibility for yourself. It means never accepting victimhood, procrastination, or giving up. In the military we say that good leaders have a lot of rocks in their rucksack and are happy to carry them and have the resilience to do so.
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