Sure, You’re Great; Now Strive for Better
Plateaus and standstills. Everyone hits them. You know you’ve hit at least one over the course of your lifetime, those times where you feel like you’ve accomplished whatever you set out to do, you’ve reached your goal, you’ve celebrated and now there’s a sense of stillness and uncertainty around you. “What’s next?” seems to be the question that hangs over you at all times. In these moments, the great leaders know that even while they own and celebrate their greatness, it’s time to set new objectives and strive for better.
Leadership doesn’t end once a goal is achieved. If anything, one might argue that great leaders step into the limelight in the time and space between the accomplishment of one goal, and the movement towards a new goal. The space in which you decide what’s next, that’s where your leadership is really needed. It’s time for you to model what it means to reach for the next great thing, whatever that might be.
Bottom-line: inspiring leaders strive not only for great, but for greater and greatest. In order to be at your leadership best, you need to constantly stretch beyond great, and model the same for those you lead. You’ve got to be willing to hold the question, “How can I make this better?” even when things are pretty darn good. That’s how you know you’re stepping into inspiring leadership.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Gail Barker. Gail Barker said: today's leadership musings: New Stellar CC blog post: Sure, You're Great; Now Strive for Better: http://tinyurl.com/25kpgbo [...]