Empowering Young Leaders With The Tools To Thrive In A Hectic World
Great stories require 5 elements. A inciting incident. Conflict. Resolution. Protagonist. And an Antagonist.
The antagonist is usually an enemy. The Joker to Batman. The Taliban to the US army. The resistance to your creativity.
Image by Niles Geylen
You face an unseen enemy in your leadership. It raises it’s ugly head and tries to tell you it’s okay.
That things shouldn’t be this hard. You should have it easy.
One of the enemies of leadership is convenience.
The 20 mile march is all about taking consistent action so we can reach a specific goal. For Roald Amundsen it was trudging 20 miles every day until he and his team reached the South Pole. For you it may be completing your book manuscript. Helping your team reach record sales. Or getting into shape.
Image By Darcy McCarty
But what happens once you reach the finish line of your 20 mile march? What happens then?
It’s a great question to ask yourself. You need to have an idea of what you’ll do after accomplishing your current goal.
I don’t know about you but one of the things I love to learn about is unconventional leadership styles. Most of the unconventional styles you see come from leaders who are stepping up their game and taking chances. Are you going to be one of them?
Image by Alexis Fam
1. Be Flexible: Chris Guillebeau has been one of the most unconventional leaders I’ve seen. He took up the task of traveling to every country in the world by a certain date. There were destinations were Chris had to be flexible and change his plans. It didn’t ruin his trip, just made it different.
We make thousands of decisions every day. It’s a natural part of life and decision making rarely is a conscious decision.
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Even when we think we’re making a concerted effort to make a decision, there’s other factors at play. We’re not looking for the best answer. We’re looking for the answer that best fits our preconceived notions.
Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel Prize winner, put it in these terms
We give too much weight to the information that’s right in front of us, while failing to consider the information that’s just offstage.
I find myself reading quite a bit these days. I’m trying to find a balance between fiction and non-fiction titles but have found myself still leaning heavily towards non-fiction books. This probably has to do with my desire to continue to grow as a leader. I hope you have the same desire.
Image by Marcus Hansson
If you have the desire to continue learning, I’ve put together a great list of 6 books every leader should read by the end of the year. Each of these books have a special place in my leadership journey. I hope they’ll find a place in yours as well.
Dan Black (21)
Jon Stolpe (18)
Jonathan Harrison (13)
self storage (13)
Dan Erickson (10)
DS (10)
TCAvey (8)
Tom Dixon (8)
Carol Peterson (5)
Grayson Pope (A Parched Soul) (5)