06 Nov Time to stretch yourself as a leader?
OMG it’s November already! Before long it will be the new year.
Actually, I’ve started to wonder about next year. Have you?
Is it time to consider stretching yourself as a leader? Do you have a set of skills, attributes and habits that stand out? Are you passionate about making learning and schools exciting, inspiring and fun for kids?
I attended the EARCOS Leadership Conference in KL last week and I was fortunate to hear many wonderful speakers inspire and motivate 1200 delegates. But, I noticed something really interesting. The keynote speakers were Baby Boomers and many of the attendees were Baby Boomers too. In fact schools today are full of Baby Boomers and over the next five years most of them will retire.
Do you know what that means? Doors are opening for many Gen Xers and Millennials to take up leadership opportunities in our schools. So …. Is it time to stretch yourself and apply for one of these positions?
Maybe you need to ask yourself the following questions…. Am I passionate about motivating and engaging 21st century learners? Am I excited about bringing change to my school or a new school? Do I doubt myself too much? Do I have all the skills required to take on a leadership role or to take the next big step and launch into executive leadership? Mmmm it’s challenging isn’t it?
I understand how you feel. I’ve asked myself those same questions over the years. Interestingly I’ve just finished reading The Imposter Syndrome: Becoming an Authentic Leader. It’s a great book and I suggest you read it too.
Turns out that most successful people suffer from the Imposter Syndrome and those voices of self-doubt we hear in our head are either our internal Critic or our internal Coach. What surprised me was that many of us don’t acknowledge to others that we suffer from the Imposter Syndrome.
Ultimately we need to listen to both our Critic and Coach voices and to do this we need to learn how to become more self-aware, how to disrupt and how to be authentic leaders.
You see I know all about the Imposter Syndrome because I’ve been dancing with it for years BUT, I’ve never let it stop me from taking on new challenges and being a better version of me.
So are you interested in learning how to stretch yourself?
Let me tell you a little story. A year ago I stretched myself by deciding to create an online leadership course for educators who wanted to learn how to lead but don’t have a lot of spare time, you know the type, Gen Xers and Millennials who are up for a challenge. I condensed many of the lessons I’ve learnt along the way to become a successful Principal and Head of School in Australia and Asia.
Well that little decision has blown out into a year of work and it’s been one of the biggest challenges I’ve ever set myself. It took months to design and script, then the videoing; well that was really hard. I employed a creative millennial cinematographer and we planned the shoots over a couple of months. I couldn’t believe how nervous I was talking to a camera! I’m great at talking to people, even 500 or 1000 people, but not a camera. I almost gave up. So I had a serious talk to myself (in other words I used my inner Coach voice) and got back on track. Then I designed a new website to upload the videos to help people like you fast-track your leadership growth and capacity. It only went live last week! I’m excited and nervous about it.
If you’ve got a spare couple of minutes you can check it out here. I’d love to hear your feedback. Does it work? Have I got it right? How can I improve it?
If you’re short on time download my Whitepaper below and read it later. It’s helping principals and heads of schools in over 122 countries around the world to bring about successful change at their schools.
Whatever you decide, make sure you think about stretching yourself as a leader. As a millennial told me a only a few weeks ago, “YOLO!” You only live once.
There’s a whole lot of exciting opportunities waiting for you to seize them. Carpe Diem! Have an awesome year ahead.
