School Is Not Out For Summer
Contrary to Alice Cooper and Michael Bruce, school is NOT out for summer…at least for leaders it isn’t.
School is in session every day of your leadership journey. Every moment is an opportunity for growth. Great leaders never quit being a student. Instead, they lean into every situation, asking, “What can I learn from this?”
It sounds simple and maybe even cliche, but it doesn’t make it untrue and vitally important. Why? Because the older we get as leaders, the more tempted we are to think we’ve got it all figured out. As a result, we unknowingly get prideful and arrogant as we place ourselves a bit higher than we should. The moment we start becoming a critic more than a student is the day we stop growing. In fact, learning ends where pride begins.
The greatest leaders keep themselves humble and hungry for more. They never stop being a student of life and leadership. Albert Einstein said, “Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.”
Many years ago my family and I were sitting at the dinner table eating our meal together and sharing stories from our day. My daughter asked me what I had done at work. I told her I had the opportunity to speak to a large group of business leaders about leadership. Confused, she looked at me and laughed while saying, “But, Daddy, they’re ALREADY leaders!” She thought I had made a big mistake and spoke to the wrong group.
Many people think like my daughter did. They have the misconception that once you receive the title of “leader,” your growth is over. It’s the temptation to think you’ve arrived and no longer need to develop yourself. This type of thinking couldn’t be further from the truth. The moment you are endowed with the title of “leader” is the perfect moment to begin growing your skills all the more. Once you get something, that doesn’t mean you’ve got it; it means you now need to grow it. I like how Coach John Wooden put it when he said, “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.”
Only when we admit that we don’t know it all can we open the door to unlimited possibilities. At age 94, Pablo Casals was considered one of the greatest cellists of all time. After one of his last concerts at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. he was asked why he still practiced over three hours a day. He responded, “I think I am making progress.” He also stated, “To retire is the beginning of death.”
Always push yourself and your team to stay in a growth mindset. Never stop growing to your maximum potential.
