The Colonel said, “Leaders are not born, kid. Leaders grow and evolve through practice, building skills and putting in the ‘reps’ until leadership is second nature.”
While many believe that some people are natural leaders, effective leadership is not a skill anyone is born with. It’s something that requires study, effort and time to develop. As a child, I was always ready to take the lead, certain that I should be the one in charge (Maybe I was just bossy, who knows…), but believing I should be in charge was not enough to make me a good leader. Leadership is a craft that requires skill. Skill requires practice. So, I had to put in the effort to learn the craft of leadership.
It’s kind of like champion athletes. No one is born a champion. It requires learning from others and then working with coaches and mentors, putting in the “reps” and honing their craft until their particular skill becomes muscle memory.
It’s the same with leadership. Stellar leadership requires working with mentors, consistently putting in the effort, and applying proven principles, over and over and over again. Then, it begins to be muscle memory, and you don’t have to think first before applying those proven principles – they just happen. Like any skill, leadership requires a willingness to be constantly learning and growing—to keep putting in the reps—so the skills don’t become stagnant and atrophy.
Read Lauren’s Whitepaper on The Nine Essentials of Significant Leadership.