A wonderful client recently made my day by sending me a very special New Year’s gift which included a copy of “Warrior of the Light – A Manual” by Paulo Coelho. I give you a few of his words:
“The warrior takes stock of his life; he makes sure that his sword is sharp, his heart satisfied, that faith still burns in his soul. He knows that maintenance is as important as action.
There is always something not quite right. And the warrior takes advantage of those moments when time stops to equip himself better.”
What does that have to do with Leadership?
It got me thinking about a very insightful piece I recently read by Josh Bernstein which focussed on how much organizations are neglecting leadership development and what this costs us as organizations and individuals.
Almost everyone I’ve ever met wants to learn and grow – leaders included. So, what was missing?
Possible reasons could be that a sense of time scarcity leads to “urgent” tasks taking priority over “important” work, a huge focus of resources to overcoming pandemic issues – from burnout to engagement to remote working, and now the onslaught of integrating AI into work practices. Tackling this plethora of immediate problems meant lots of leaders were focussing less on longer-term items such as personal development.
And so, with the building up of leadership capability and resilience on the decline, many pundits are proclaiming “leadership in crisis”
I pull direct quotes from Bernstein’s work:
* Only 25% of companies believe their leadership development is delivering high value to the company
* Only 24% of companies say their model is “up to date” or “highly relevant”
* Only 11% of companies embrace mentoring and only 18% give coaching to managers and leaders
* Only 15% of companies take care of leaders and actively monitor and mitigate leader burnout
Bernstein quips that we probably spend more on coffee these days than on leadership development (his research shows that the majority of companies spend less than $500 per year per person on developing leaders). As an avid coffee drinker, that statistic resonates for me😊.
And as an Executive Coach, the reality I see behind it resonates even more strongly. We are increasingly selecting to focus exclusively on short-term deliverables with little or no room for long-term growth investment in growth.
- Even though we all believe and want to learn and grow.
- Even though the evidence is clear: organizations that work on developing their leaders (vs. just promoting them) perform much better when compared to others.
So, here’s my challenge to us all: let’s not wait for our organizations to sort it all out.
What are you doing to equip yourself better for this year? Where can you grow not just professionally but also personally? As humans, growth can and should be multi-faceted in nature. Will it be a course? Will it be a new hobby? Will you invest in Personalized Coaching? Will you travel to a new country? Whatever it is, As we start this new year, I wish you a 2024 filled with better and new ways to expand capability and equip yourself the future.
As always, let me know your thoughts, and if you want to talk about ways I can help you – please reach out!
Best,
