Leadership Development
When I was growing up, I always thought that leadership was the domain of those destined for greatness. But over the last couple of years, I've come to realise that leadership is something that all of us should work on, regardless of our station in life or position at work. Recently, my boss gave me a book by John C Maxwell on the "21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership" and it further cemented my belief. I've heard a lot about Maxwell from my friends and I wasn't disappointed when I started flipping the pages. In fact, the first chapter drove home the point that leadership ability is important to all of us. In short, he asserts that it is the lid that determines a person's level of effectiveness. The lower a person's ability to lead, the lower the lid on his potential and vice versa. This makes a lot of sense because a leader is someone who has a vision and can chart the way forward, who works on his personal development ceaselessly and who adds value to others.
On a personal front, a lot of the above characteristics would benefit us in our life's journey and in seeking out its meaning. At the end of the day, unless you've a vision and mission for your life, you're likely to drift along aimlessly. I find it strange that a lot of people don't sit down and ponder over what they want to do in life. This is also why most of them, yours truly included until not too long ago, don't have a personal development plan. When we're in school, things are simpler because our purpose then is to be educated and to get a degree if possible. But once we start working, its almost as if we think that we're done learning. But if we look back, most of us would recall that school days were the best times of our lives. And there's a reason why. Its because we were constantly learning new knowledge and developing ourselves through various extra-curricula activities. Yesterday during church service, my pastor also exhorted us to have a plan to ensure that we grow in our education (both the secular as well as spiritual aspects), creativity and character. And he's not talking about new year resolutions, he meant a long term plan for our development. So I'm now cracking my head to distill what other areas I need to focus on to develop myself as a person so that I can be more effective as a friend to my my friends, a son/brother to my family and a boss to those placed under my charge.
On a personal front, a lot of the above characteristics would benefit us in our life's journey and in seeking out its meaning. At the end of the day, unless you've a vision and mission for your life, you're likely to drift along aimlessly. I find it strange that a lot of people don't sit down and ponder over what they want to do in life. This is also why most of them, yours truly included until not too long ago, don't have a personal development plan. When we're in school, things are simpler because our purpose then is to be educated and to get a degree if possible. But once we start working, its almost as if we think that we're done learning. But if we look back, most of us would recall that school days were the best times of our lives. And there's a reason why. Its because we were constantly learning new knowledge and developing ourselves through various extra-curricula activities. Yesterday during church service, my pastor also exhorted us to have a plan to ensure that we grow in our education (both the secular as well as spiritual aspects), creativity and character. And he's not talking about new year resolutions, he meant a long term plan for our development. So I'm now cracking my head to distill what other areas I need to focus on to develop myself as a person so that I can be more effective as a friend to my my friends, a son/brother to my family and a boss to those placed under my charge.
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