Courageous Leader BLUEprint™ – 8th edition
Welcome back leaders!
This is the eighth edition of our Courageous Leader BLUEprint™ newsletter.
Every three weeks, you’ll get quick, thoughtful leadership insights without the fluff.
Read time: less than 5 minutes
This edition of the Courageous Leader BLUEprint will focus on growth.
Growth is the courage to keep becoming a better version of yourself.
Why does it take courage to grow?
For one, it requires enough humility to realize you don’t know it all.
Second, growth is tough.
We believe leaders should always be growing into better versions of themselves – a process that should never end.
Practical Ways to Grow
Reading
“Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers” – Harry S. Truman
This one may seem obvious, but just because you read a book, it doesn’t necessarily mean you grow from it.
Did you know that there are over 50,000 leadership books?
Why are there so many – are these authors really contributing that much new knowledge to the world?!
Our opinion is that while authors may have their own take on a concept, share unique stories to illustrate concepts, or introduce a unique model, magical revelations of new leadership knowledge are few and far between.
The problem isn’t a knowledge gap – it’s a doing gap.
(A great book on this by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton is called “The Knowing-Doing Gap.”)
Our challenge to you for the next book you read is to take at least one concept and work on applying it daily for at least three weeks.
A highly controversial question: Do audiobooks count?
Our opinion is yes, they do.
When you read from a page or listen to the audio, your brain processes the information slightly differently. But that can work to your advantage.
When I come across a book that I find particularly useful, I typically buy it as a physical copy and as an audiobook, if available.
In fact, in our leadership development programs, we challenge participants to read the materials and listen to the audio several times to help them internalize the concepts.
How much should you read?
My mentor, Rex Houze, set a personal goal to read for at least 10 minutes every day.
If you read 10 minutes a day, you can read about one book a month.
Not sure where to start? Here is my recommended reading list:
https://www.bluelionleadership.com/reading-list
Podcasts
Podcasts can be great to help you build knowledge incrementally.
They can also help you challenge your mindset.
For example, I recommend a podcast my friend and colleague, Jake Thompson, releases semi-weekly called Compete Every Day.
The benefits of podcasts will only emerge if you implement the concepts, much like reading.
Personality Assessment
Your personality has strengths and weaknesses.
All personality types do.
There are many popular personality assessments used in the workplace to help people get along and work better together.
For example, DiSC is immensely popular in the industries we work in.
Other popular ones include the 6 Types of Working Genius, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), and the Big Five.
Another great one is CliftonStrengths by Gallup. This is not necessarily a personality assessment, but rather a valuable tool for understanding your strengths, and it is often used in the workplace to help identify others’ strengths.
While each one of the above can be helpful in the workplace, they are not necessarily designed to help you grow as an individual.
They primarily reveal your tendencies and are often used to help you interact effectively with other team members.
We believe the Enneagram is by far the most useful tool for understanding and growing in your personality.
Charles is a certified Enneagram Coach through InnerLifeSkills.
One of the most common rejections of personality assessments is that they put people into a box, and people understandably don’t want to be put into a box.
At InnerLifeSkills, they say that the Enneagram reveals the box you’re already in and provides a way to grow out of it.
That is, if you’re willing to grow.
A quick note on Enneagram assessments and accuracy…
While some paid assessments claim to be as accurate as 95%, some experts say that tests are only 50-60% accurate.
The reason I chose InnerLifeSkills is that they teach coaches how to type without assessments.
Instead, they trained us in a “narrative coaching” method to help clients uncover their type.
Does that mean that an assessment is a waste of time/money?
Of course, that is up to you, but I would say it’s probably worth it, if for no other reason than to help you narrow down your type.
The keys to growth, regardless of the personality system you use:
Build on your strengths
Do not blame your type to justify your blind spots
Use the knowledge you’ve gained to actively work on your blind spots
Coaching
We believe that every leader needs a coach.
A good coach can help you grow, and the best coaches will help you find your inner wisdom, not just tell you what to do.
While our primary focus is on leadership development in groups, we also offer one-on-one coaching to participants in our programs.
And even though I’m a coach, I have a coach.
Counseling
Counseling is different than coaching.
Thankfully, the stigma surrounding counseling seems to be tapering off slightly, but it still persists.
Counseling isn’t just for crisis situations with trauma, grief, marriages, etc.
Counseling is a growth opportunity for everyone, including people who consider themselves emotionally healthy.
As a leader, you face different stressors than the majority of your organization, and it’s okay (if not wise) to have an expert help you navigate some of the burdens of leadership.
This edition focused on personal growth as a leader.
Before our next newsletter, pick one growth practice - whether it’s a book, a podcast, or a personality insight - and apply it daily for three weeks. Growth happens in the doing.
In the next edition, we’ll discuss ways to grow with others.
Because leadership isn't a solo