Just about every great leader I speak with has a love of learning and a passion for growth, which combine to generate a deep drive to identify areas for improvement and consciously work towards that goal. When I spoke with Thomas Peng, former Chief Information Officer of the Peace Corps, he put it this way:

Leadership, there’s always a growth. There’s always situations that you’re like, “How could I have handled this differently? How could I have handled it better?” It’s only that reflection and growth that continue. No leadership is perfect and it’s also dynamic, given the teams that you’re on, the situations, the time.

I took martial arts and I really liked this thing. Everyone talks about getting a black belt. In the style that I took, you got a navy blue belt, it was a really dark blue. The thinking there was, black belt is an absolute, you’ve reached it. Their thought and interpretation was, you get a really dark blue belt, because there’s always ways to learn. There’s always practice, there’s always ways.

I feel that way the same as leadership. It’s really important to always be looking at, how can I improve? But doing so in a healthy way that you’re not tearing yourself apart.

How do you introspect on your growth edges in a way that respects and encourages who you are? Let me know in the comments.