Growth is indispensable for leaders... but growth can be painful. For years I joked with colleagues that Staples has the “easy button,” I want to copyright the “painful button.” Then, guess what I got for Christmas one year?… that’s right, a "painful button!" Funny, but the truth is, as much as we hate to admit it, pain is a part of growth. This is because, just as plants in nature, effective leaders must continually grow in two-directions at the same time. Stated plainly, to maintain leadership health, a leader's visible growth 'upward' must be accompanied by unseen growth 'downward and outward.' Ironically, the solution to our current state (which is fraught with the pain of staying the same - not growing upward), is our growth downward and outward (which includes the pain it will take to change). In short, private growth precedes and is concurrent with sustainable public accomplishment. Adam Grant, bestselling author and organizational psychologist, observes that when it comes to individual and organizational effectiveness, what counts is not how hard we work, but how much we grow. (Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things) The good news, as great coaches across every domain remind us: “the pride (of what we are able to accomplish with growth) last longer than the pain (of growth).” Wise leaders not only embrace growth, they pursue it for themselves and their organizations, because increased effectiveness depends on it. #LeadWithGrowth
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