If I Had to Do It All Over Again

 A few years back, one of my coaching clients invited me to work with a large group of young leaders in Ukraine. His instructions were to be ‘intensely practical’ about the leadership training I was to give. The phrase stuck in my thinking since then. 

I have been in leadership one way or another for over 35 years. 

BUT … if I had to do it all over again, there are a few intensely practical things I would do from the very beginning. 

• I would commit to being a lifelong learner on the topic of working effectively throughout my day

• I would spend much more time learning about people

• I would meet regularly with a coach who could assist me to go farther than I thought I could go

• I would squeeze more learning out of everyday life experiences … both good and bad 

Many leaders don’t practice these intensely practical habits. They stumble into the job and fumble along, waiting for something to happen and then react to it. That’s not leadership. It’s more like crisis management. We've all done it at one time or another.

Intentional leaders are prepared for ‘stuff’ to happen. They know where they are going and they have a path to get there. When they realize they have been distracted or diverted, they get back on the path again.

In case you're thinking about what you'd do if you could do it all over again ... it's never too late to make adjustments.