On Leadership, Growth, and Coaching

Dall-E: “high-res digital drawing of a seedling growing toward the sun”

Let's spend some time today defining some important concepts for any of us committed to affecting change in the world. Whether you're in the business world, an artist, a student, or otherwise seeking to create change, having a foundational understanding of these ideas will help you navigate them with greater success.

Leadership: Moving life (oneself, people, dogs, nature, the energy of a moment) in an intended direction -- from one place to another. Leadership presupposes meeting life in the moment in order to move it.

Growth: The process of transforming from our current state into a desired state. It's self-leadership -- directed movement toward something we choose -- like a little plant growing toward the sun in an effort to receive more nutrients.

Coaching: Supporting others in leading their own growth and transformation.

The process for each contains three essential components:

• Where we are right now

• Where we want to go

• What's between where we are and where we want to go

When I speak about leadership or growth or coaching, understand that, largely, the language I'm using can be applied to all of them. This is important to remember because we can often believe that we don't have the necessary experience in one of these areas in order to understand it.

You might, for example, be quite versed in the world of personal growth but believe you don't fit the definition of a leader. Or you might be an experienced organizational leader but believe you don't have an understanding of coaching at a personal level.

Let that go. Instead, I'll invite you to believe that you can apply the knowledge and understanding you already have to any of these areas. And if you look closely, you've likely sought out the three components I mentioned anytime you've undertaken a growth-oriented initiative in your life.

The three components of each of these processes give rise to our GPS navigation analogy for growth/leadership/coaching. It's a deceptively simple framework that, when applied in earnest, allows us to create anything we want in life. More on that soon.