Facing a World With Unprecedented Challenges — and Extraordinary Opportunities

Things are changing. More people have more information than ever before. Product and service life cycles seem to be getting faster and faster. Teams have increasingly diverse viewpoints, educations and backgrounds among their members.

Do these and other changes represent a threat or do they give us an opportunity? For me, the answer to that depends on your skill as a leader.

Getting Away From Style

Leaders develop skills through focused practice. Sometimes, if you concentrate on just a few, you start to identify with those skills. You start to think of them as your style. This limits you, especially in times of rapid and extreme change. There's nothing wrong with identifying with a certain leadership style. However, a distinctive style is only part of what makes someone a great leader.

Leaders are a lot like golfers. After you get a certain amount of experience, you start to develop some idiosyncrasies — I've been noted for a very specific pre-swing routine myself.

Now, I would let my routine define my style as a golfer. It wouldn't make any sense. I use a variety of skills that define my game: decision-making, green-reading, memory, observation and so on. I'm also always looking for new ways to sink my next hole-in-one.

The same applies to leadership. You are more than your strongest leadership skills or your habitual actions. You are more than your style. Leadership is a practice and experimenting. Everything about what you do — not just how you tend to do it — defines you as a leader.

Practicing Your Way to Success

Being a leader is something you do. Like golf, your ability to succeed is based on your skills. And, also like golf, you can develop your abilities to help you take on bigger challenges — and even to convert challenges into opportunities.

When you face a major, systemic change, it usually seems like a challenge. It might be — if you try to solve it using your most familiar approach.

Come at the same situation from a different direction — especially when your competitors are still stuck in their old patterns — and you might find yourself in a very favorable position. Great leaders do this almost automatically. They've learned the skills they need. Of course, that includes the ability to choose which skill to use in which situation.

The key concept here is practice. Nobody develops this level of judgment without focus, experience and dedication. Play the course, take your score, then try to better it in your next round.

The wider range of skills you practice, the better equipped you are when something unexpected comes your way. 

It's a journey, but each step makes you stronger as a leader. Are you ready to expand your skills and make more effective choices?