Sabbatical Reflections 1
Two years ago, I was teaching a Masterclass on strategic transformation and brand management to a group of college students, pulling from my experiences at Nike and other companies. It was a spirited discussion, but a young man sitting in the front row, while listening intently, seemed mildly uninterested in the exchanges I was having with his classmates. Eventually, he raised his hand and asked with the honesty of someone who was truly seeking answers, “Why you? Why is it that you had the career you have had?”
I paused for a moment to understand the question. I guessed he was referring to the more widely known parts of my personal and professional story, including my crisscross of 4 continents, studying, or working with a number of well-regarded brands. True, by most standards, my journey over the last 30 years since I was a college student myself has been one to be proud of and that I am grateful for. It has been defined by a host of lifechanging moments and powerful interactions. And, including, lots of profound lessons learned from failing and not always living up to my true capabilities - not as well known.
Experiences matter, and I have sought to have as many as I could and still grown from those I could have done without.
This past January, I started a new transition. Over the last three months, as I reflected on some of the numerous influences that have shaped me, I often recalled the question of the student, "Why me?". I also recalled the adage - to whom much is given, much is expected - which influenced me to suspend a corporate career 2 years ago and deploy my experiences to helping others accelerate and, maybe, challenge themselves more with the questions "What if? and "Why not? Demystifying Leadership is what I called it.
In speeches to student groups and mid-career professionals, I am invariably asked about the most important lessons of the last 3 decades of professional growth, and I generally share the following:
1. Be hungry for action - Quickly move past theories and research and start making decisions and getting things done.
2. Embrace continuous learning - You will never know enough, so remain curious always and learn to listen more so than you speak and learn from anyone, anywhere and anytime.
3. Recruit direct-speak mentors - Always be honest with yourself and have a go-to advisory group who you can count on to be brutally honest with you.
4. Be willing to disrupt yourself - Be humble, open, and agile to shift gears, create new relationships, change your environment, and challenge and change yourself.
However, above all, there is one pre-requisite that I have learned to be the best unlock to notable consequence or self-actualization. It is also the one attribute that has typified the most impactful leaders, teams, and organizations I have worked with or admired from afar.
It is the practice of COURAGE.
Courage has played a role each time I have been at my personal best, experienced the most growth or been the most helpful to my teams and others. Courage has played a role in my biggest failures, in my biggest regrets and missed opportunities. I suspect this is the same for many of you.
I have found courage to be the ultimate gamechanger, the unused superpower that most of us don’t summon enough - courage to be vulnerable; courage to learn from whomever and whenever; courage to accept humbling feedback; courage to act, and willingly fail today as an investment in success in the future; courage to stand for something, and for others, however unpopular or risky it is; courage to claim one’s potential; courage to rebel against fear, or advocate for oneself; courage to follow and know when to lead; courage to walk away from a table where respect is not on the menu; courage to turn your back to your naysayers; courage to embrace change; courage to never stop working on building courage, or walking with courage.
The last 12 months of global events could not have made a stronger case for effective leadership in the world and, even more specifically, could not have made a stronger case for courageous leadership. As well, the future cannot demand more loudly that ordinary folk empower themselves more to bring about the kind of change they want to see in the world. And not wait for traditional or reluctant institutions, systems, or gate keepers to lead. This will take courage.
These days, I collaborate with organizations, teams, and leaders – starting up and mature - who desire to create something larger for themselves. They energize me. I identify with their need to be self-aware of a clear mission and resolute about pursuing it. I enjoy working on pragmatic ways to employ scarce resources and stay focused on the factors they can best control. I believe passionately that there are no finish lines, only starting lines, and that stepping up to the line is a big part of success. I support their openness to fail because I know it helps them learn and innovate and grow. I am always relieved when they understand that leaders must lead and that creating healthy cultures and developing people is a must and a minimum expectation of effective leaders. Most times, our best answers lie in courageous choices, decisions, and actions.
It’s a question that’s hard to forget, “Why you?”. My response is more a resolve we must make to ourselves, “Why not?”. And a challenge we must make of our possibilities, “What if?”. It starts with us, and that man or woman who stares back at us through a mirror, who knows us, and our truth, the best. It's a commitment we must make to lifelong curiosity, absorbing different perspectives, preferring action over inertia, practicing flexibility, and most of all, exercising courage to reach closer to the potential that is already, by design of our humanity, ours.
#purpose #courage #leadership #impact