Sunday, May 27, 2007

Leaders Pushing Limits

Leaders Pushing Limits: Grace Andrews dabbles with Risk and Leadership in her post on FastCompany Now. Some nuggets from her post:

How do I keep the edge without jumping off the edge?

Continue moving…inaction leads to stagnation.

Read…anything.

Talk to people…constantly.

Ask for feedback and be open to what you hear.

Try something that seems counterintuitive.

Don't let others in your organization do all the dirty work.

Go work "on the line or in the trenches".

Do a 360 on yourself.

Try This

Make a list of all the things that inspire you about other leaders. Compare them to your skill sets. What are you missing that they have? This is a great place to start understanding what you need to do to go to the next level. Then start learning those skills and practicing them. Start now, even if it's scary. You don't have to jump out of a plane to get your heart pumping; sometimes it is as simple as looking in the mirror and telling yourself the truth about something you should be doing and then taking the steps to do it.

One last thought

I think finding and pushing your freak-out point occasionally is a good thing. If you're the adventurous type, then go for the gusto and climb, jump, surf. If you are not, don't let that stop you. There are ways to keep your edge, but lying down is not one of them.

All very relevant and interesting thoughts.