PEAKS, VALLEYS & PLATEAUS.

Every leader and system will experience ‘peaks,’ ‘valleys’ and ‘plateaus.’ This is because on a leadership journey, leaders are either going up a mountain, on a mountain top, or headed down! Seasoned leaders understand that individual and organizational progress is not a straight line and decision-making during each of these stages is best tempered with understanding. Some guiding principles can help leaders navigate: (1) Peaks should be celebrated but not overemphasized. It’s harder to learn from success than failure because our tendency is to think “I’m/We’re just that good!’- “things are typically not as good as they seem”; (2) Plateaus aren’t equivalent with stagnation. If used wisely, they provide an excellent opportunity for recovery and capacity building - “things are sometimes better than they seem”; (3) Valleys provide the best ‘learning material’ but it’s best not to make critical decisions in a ‘dip.’ When we have a growth mindset instead of a fixed mindset - “things are never as bad as they seem.” #LeadThroughPeaksValleysPlateaus