THE POWER OF PERSONAL-DEVELOPMENT IN LEADERSHIP

Norman Mailer said

“Every moment of one’s existence, one is growing into more or retreating into less”

Let me put it in my own words, “if you are not growing, you are dying”. Everything on earth obeys the principles of growth. Anything that is not growing is considered to be dead. You cannot stand on the fence either. That moment you stop growing you start dying.

A seed, though carries the power to birth a forest yet remains alone until it is planted. In a seed of corn is the ability to produce a billion other corn, however, without cultivating it, its power remains dormant, untapped and useless. The power of growth is what transforms a seed into a forest, it is what turns a born leader to a great leader, a failed business to a conglomerate, a local venture to a global organization and a stagnant church to a triumphant church. Consider this scripture below;

John 12:24

 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies,
it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.

Jesus taught His disciples this principle of leadership growth. It is not enough to have a
seed, you must cultivate it. It is not enough to be born as a leader you must cultivate that
leadership seed in you. Leaders are not just born they are made. No matter your talent
and gifts, you cannot be a great leader without developing yourself. What determines
the greatness of a leader is not the amount of gifts he has but how much he has developed
himself or herself. 

"Personal-development is the key to leadership optimization."

Talent or natural gift is not enough; it takes a deliberate personal development plan to
bethe best. Earl Shoaff said “if you want to be wealthy and happy, learn to work harder
on yourself than you do on your job”. Success is not what you achieve, it is who you
become.

Personal-development as a leader is everything. The growth of an organization, business,
church or society is dependent on the development of the leader. When the leader grows,
the organization grows. Personal development is not about changing what you do. It is
about changing who you are becoming. The process of developing a leader is simply
called training. Training is the bridge between being a follower and becoming a leader.
The only way to be your best is to develop what is already inside of you. 

A leader does not pursue success, rather a leader pursues growth.The key to leadership
greatness is your commitment to consistent personal growth. The possibilities, abilities
and privileges you always desire can only be unlocked through growth. You are a growth
away from your dreams. No matter how much you try, some things will not come to you
until you upgrade the present version of yourself. Privileges and certain abilities come
with certain levels of growth. 

Your struggles and failures are signs that you have not become what you need to be to sustain the result you desire. Leaders don’t fail because of lack of talents, resources or people. Most leaders fail because they are trying to handle what they haven’t become. If you are trying to lead a thousand people but only two people are coming your way, it is a sign that your growth capacity can only handle two people. The day you grow to a thousand capacity, one thousand followers will locate you mysteriously. Your life will only attract what your growth can handle and it will always repel what it can’t. It is hard to keep whatever has not been obtained through personal development. Jim Rohn, a personal development expert and a motivational speaker said

“Unless you change how you are, you will always have what you’ve got”.

If by luck you win a jackpot of ten million dollars, it will soon shrink back to what it was before if you haven’t grown to handle it. Your income will rarely exceed your personal development. Imagine a three years old boy trying to lift a bag of cement, then imagine that same boy 25 years later trying to lift that same bag of cement.

Growth naturally separates you from some certain limitations. You can overcome the
limitations of lack, failure, stagnation, disappointment and sorrow simply by outgrowing
them. In fact, the only way to permanently leave behind failures and other struggles is to
outgrow them. Let me put it in a religious language; true deliverance is growth. 

"Natural talent and ability matched with a strong will and work ethics is the magical formula for making exceptional leaders."

Usain Bolt became the fastest man on the planet not through great talent but through one
of the hardest workouts. He once shared a video on Instagram where he trained so hard
he began to throw up. Michael Jordan worked very hard on himself to become successful.
When Jordan first entered the league, his jump shot wasn’t good enough. So, he spent all
his off season taking hundreds of jumpers a day until it was perfect. Developing yourself
is more important than your inborn abilities and talents. Anthony Joshua…..though you
are born a leader but you must grow to become one.  

Develop Your Mind/Heart

Your heart is the core of your life. It can be likened to the operating system of a computer.
Your life takes the shape of your heart. More than you need to develop your muscles; you
must develop your mind. The strength of your mind not of your muscles is what creates
leadership success. Whenever I have the privilege of teaching personal and leadership
growth, I usually show my students a picture collage of Steve Jobs and an unknown
bodybuilder. One looks physically impressive, with huge muscles and six packs, the
other looks fragile physically. One focused on building his body, while the other focused
on building his mind. One is worth billions of dollars, the other is broke and looking for a
bodyguard job.

"Your greatest investment as a leader is on your mind. Your result in life reflection of your mind's worth."

While it is important that you take care of your body by eating healthy and regular exercise. Much more important is your mind. Just as you eat and exercise to have a healthy body you have to take care of your soul to have a healthy life. As food is to the body, knowledge is also to the mind. A mind void of knowledge is a life full of frustration. Build your mind through reading and exposure. The scripture established that it is not good for a soul to be without knowledge (Proverbs 19:2)

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Invest in your mind more than you invest in your body. As a lady don’t buy expensive
wigs on an empty head. As a guy your suit should not worth more than your library. Don’t
take an expensive vacation when you cannot afford to go to training that costs a few
hundreds of dollars. As a growing leader, your first goal is not to build a house; it is to
build your mind. Take care of your mind and it will take care of you. 

It is not the responsibility of your parents, uncles, aunties, friends, government or
employer to build your mind for you. You have nobody to blame for the state of your
heart. It is also your responsibility to guard your heart. You cannot even employ the best
of security companies to do that for you. 

Create the Right Environment

For a seed to grow to become a tree, three things must be available, they are: right soil
(not just fertile soil), sunlight and water. These three are best summarized as the right
atmosphere or environment. A good seed in the wrong atmosphere will either not grow at
all or have a stunted growth. A good atmosphere is as important as the seed when it comes
to growth. A research carried out on sharks reveals that, sharks raised in a tank don’t grow
more than eight  inches. However, if the same shark is raised in the ocean it can grow to
eight feet or more. 

This study reveals the power of atmosphere in grooming leaders. As a potential leader,
wrong environment can limit your growth and performance in life. You need the right
environment to develop your intrinsic leadership power. Toxic environment limits and
sometimes destroys the seed of leadership in people, while the right atmosphere makes
it easy for the seed to grow. 

Since the right environment or atmosphere is non-negotiable to leadership development,
you may not find that in your school, family, work place, church or society. You have to
create it yourself. That is what I will be helping you to do in this book. You must create a
system that helps you to grow consistently. Let us talk a little more about the environment.

As emerging leaders in Africa, we must create our own environment. We can’t wait for
society, while the society is waiting for us. If you must be a problem solving leader, then
you must rise above that problem. You cannot solve a problem you are part of. You
cannot solve a problem at the same level you were when the problem was created. The
solution to our societal ills is not to run to America or Canada, it is to become a leader
that’s trained enough to solve national problems.

Find a Leadership Reference

By leadership reference I mean a mentor or  role model. Followers are products of the

kinds of leaders that lead them. Good leaders produce good leaders, great leaders

produce great leaders, so also, bad “leaders” produce bad “leaders”. The reason we have

not many leaders in our society is because we have very few leadership models. 

Today in a nation like ours, we celebrate leaders who are thieves and corrupt.

"Followers don’t become what the leaders say, they become who the leader is. To become a reference you need a reference."

Find a Coach

Michael Jordan, one of the greatest Basketball legends never became great without Phil
Jackson, Mohammad Ali, the greatest, but he never became the greatest without Angelo
Dundee, Usain Bolt, the fastest man on the planet never achieved that feat without Glen
Mills. You also need a Phil Jackson, a Angelo Dundee or a Glen Millis in your life if you
will ever excel in life. 

One of the key ways to develop the leader in you is to find a leader you admire and
follow their leadership principles. One of the qualities of great leaders is that they love to
mentor potential leaders. I once heard Myles Munroe say that the greatest act of a leader
is mentoring. In the same vein, one of the greatest acts of followers is getting mentored.
You cannot go far in your leadership journey without mentors. You need a mentor figure. 

Follow their principles not their personality

Follow their character not result

Focus on their story not the glory