It Takes a Village

Leaders,

This is an old proverb that means that an entire community of people must provide for and interact positively with children for those children to experience and grow in a safe and healthy environment.

This is no different once we get to adulthood and we want to take ownership of our own personal leadership development.

A positive village of people around you to support and nurture the environment you’re growing in is imperative. The best thing is you get to choose who is in your village, these are the people you spend the most time with. Choose wisely.

People develop quicker when they’re are being exposed to the right people and environment.

So what people do you need in your Village?

1. Mentors - Mentors save you a lot of time. They’ll share their own perspective, wisdom, and experience which can add tremendous value. They’ll also help you to avoid the pitfalls, elevate your thinking and even open up doors for you to showcase your skill set.

1. Level up - As the quote above goes, being the smartest in the room or a big fish in a small pond might make you feel good, but it won’t get you that promotion or level of improvement everyone desires. Surrounding yourself with people who are better than you, who lift you up, lend you their knowledge and help you raise your standards are the people you want in your Village.

2. Winners - you want people who want to win. They have faced previous challenges and got back up. They have ambitious goals and a desire to improve things for a better tomorrow. Their grit and drive inspire you to keep going.

3. Cheerleaders - people who want you to be successful and are a positive influence on you. They care about you and want you to improve. They have got your back during the tough times. When you are feeling deflated and lacking energy, you get them on the phone and they are there to fill your cup back up.

4. Accountability Partners - you need people who will call you out when you’re coming up with excuses or not taking action. Accountability is a big determinator of whether you’re successful or not.

5. Growth Minded People - Carol Dweck’s Fixed vs Growth Mindset really does have a profound impact on how we lead our lives. A Fixed Minded individual who doesn’t learn from their mistakes, sees their skills as fixed, and happily blames others for their shortcomings, is not going to help you prosper. Get these people out of your Village. Replace them with Growth-Minded people who see the opportunity in the face of setbacks, they know because they’re not there today, it doesn’t mean they cannot gain new experiences, skills, and perspectives and be there tomorrow. Growth Minded people achieve so much more.

The Village of people we surround ourselves with will ultimately dictate the results we see. You’re an average of the people you spend the most time with. Your beliefs, your values, and your actions remain consistent with the people and environment you expose yourself to. Hanging out with smart people makes you think differently, learn new things, and ultimately allows you to play at a harder level which gets you a version upgrade of yourself.

All the best

David

Resources Of The Week

• Book - Matthew Syed - Black Box Thinking. When incidents happen on an aircraft, investigators learn a lot from the black box on board. This forms much of the theory behind this great book. What can we learn from evaluating the data from our everyday life? How can we use this data to improve ourselves, just like investigators use data from black boxes to improve the safety of aviation. A very eye-opening read illustrating a shocking disparity in how different industries such as aviation and healthcare approach and learn from failure.

• Blog Article - 3 Ways to Create a Culture of trust with Remote Works by Joel Comm - Without trust, your organization can't reach its highest levels of productivity. Yet trust can be hard to foster, especially with remote teams. Joel Comm talks about how to make remote working work for everyone.

• YouTube - Les Brown on How to Train Yourself to Be a Great Leader. Les talks through the qualities and competencies required from Leaders to continue to thrive in their environments. This involves not standing still, continuing to evolve, upgrade, and cultivating goodness and greatness within yourself.

Quote of the Week

If you’re finding this newsletter valuable, consider sharing it with colleagues, or subscribing if you haven’t already.