Courageous Leader BLUEprint® – 25th edition
Welcome back leaders!
This is the 25th edition of our Courageous Leader BLUEprint® newsletter.
Every three weeks, you’ll get quick, thoughtful leadership insights without the fluff.
Read time: less than 10 minutes
When we first explored the concept of growth as a courageous leadership choice, we brought up the Knowing-Doing Gap.
This gap essentially means that we “know” what to do, but struggle to implement it.
And if we do implement, we struggle to do so consistently.
The paradox is we know more about leadership today than ever before.
I’ve been immersing myself in stoic philosophy for the past year and I see so much congruence in modern day leadership principles.
And while the stoics weren’t the first (or only) to discuss principles found in our understanding of leadership, the drive to understand leadership in the modern era took off in the mid 19th century.
Since then, we’ve been inundated with theories, models, and frameworks.
(Yes, I understand the irony of introducing this concept within a newsletter about a framework)
Just search for leadership books on Amazon, and you have tens of thousands of titles to choose from.
I’m not calling out any theories, models, or frameworks here.
The point is that we have developed a thorough understanding of leadership.
And it doesn’t seem like the quest to build upon that knowledge is stopping any time soon.
But then there’s that Knowing-Doing Gap.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed trying to consume more and more leadership knowledge.
I know many leaders who invest countless hours reading and listening to podcasts.
Unfortunately, the problem with continuous consumption is that simply knowing something or being exposed to an idea does not mean someone will improve as a leader.
We must implement it.
What if growing as a leader doesn’t necessarily mean learning something new?
What if it means exceptionally executing what you already know?
Take a look at any master of their craft.
It could be an elite athlete, a world-class musician, an airline pilot, etc.
I’m sure they continue to learn, but they didn’t acquire mastery by spending their time continuously consuming new knowledge.
They became masters by spending their time learning to master the fundamentals.
They became masters by putting in years of repetition, fine-tuning the areas of their craft that needed attention.
When I was studying classical guitar performance for my undergraduate degree, I remember watching my professor teach a masterclass.
A masterclass, at least in music, is a 1-on-1 lesson where other students observe and learn.
During this masterclass, the featured student was struggling with a particular passage in the music.
My teacher asked this student to show how he practiced the passage.
This student began to play the whole passage.
My teacher stopped him and said that it seems like the beginning and end of the passage were already well within this student’s abilities.
The problem was with one specific technique in the middle of the passage.
The student agreed.
My teacher then asked how long it took to play the first part of the passage and the last part.
The student looked puzzled. I, too, wasn’t sure where this was going.
My teacher played the first part and last part and timed it. It was 30 seconds.
He then asked the student to estimate how many times he had practiced this passage.
Again, puzzled, the student said about 100 times.
My teacher quickly did the math. This student had spent 50 minutes playing parts of the passage that were already mastered.
My teacher said, “Do you really have the time to waste 50 minutes? I don’t.”
The student was obviously surprised at this revelation.
And he admitted that he enjoyed playing the first and last part.
This moment struck me because I knew there were many instances where I was doing the same thing.
It’s easy to get caught in this trap. It’s actually in our human nature.
He liked playing the first and last part. It made him feel good.
We naturally gravitate towards doing what we’re already good at because it feels good to be competent.
Mastery requires spending disproportionate time where we’re still uncomfortable.
Masters spend their hours on refining the tedious skills.
Simply put, they focus on mastering the fundamentals.
Masters never graduate from the fundamentals
I see the same thing in leadership.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with reading another book, listening to another podcast, or learning new models. I do all three.
The danger is confusing consumption with growth.
Leadership is a skill.
And like all other skills, it requires mastering the fundamentals.
The point of this newsletter is not to give an exhaustive list of fundamentals, but here are some examples:
Communicating clearly
Active listening
Setting expectations
Giving feedback
Delegating
Accountability
Making decisions
While none of these fundamentals are complicated, that doesn’t mean they are easy.
Most leaders understand the fundamentals conceptually. The difficulty comes in executing them consistently at a high level.
Growth is measured by how much better you become at executing what you know.
Growth is crossing the Knowing-Doing Gap.
Growth is a courageous choice.
It takes courage to embrace the discomfort of applying a new skill, stumbling, reflecting, asking for feedback, refining, and repeating this process as you move toward mastery.
It takes humility to admit where you’re weak and it takes courage to focus on those skills.
It takes discipline to put in the hours needed to improve in those skills.
Experience alone does not create mastery.
You can spend years repeating the same leadership behaviors without getting better.
Growth requires identifying where your execution is weak, deliberately practicing it, seeking feedback, making adjustments, and repeating.
This week’s courageous choice:
Think about one fundamental leadership skill you already know matters, but you aren’t executing as well as you could.
It could be clear communication, active listening, giving feedback, delegating, etc.
Pick one. Identify where you have room to improve. Deliberately practice. Seek feedback.