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5 Straightforward Steps to Transform Your Leadership And Get Others to Notice
This common sense approach works for helping your team level up, too.
![](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/52462a47-17f4-4d13-bfef-00bb9b1d0857/image.png)
Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms
Read Time: 3 minutes
Change is hard. The options are limitless.
Yet "growth mindset" is an easy phrase to utter but a hard zone to spend a lot of time in, especially when it feels like your job is on the line.
The only thing more disheartening is putting in all the reps to transform yourself and having no one notice.
But what if you could accelerate your growth while ensuring people didn't just notice, they came along for the ride?
Here's how it works.
A standard play that many executive coaches run:
Interview you
Interview people around you
Build a profile of your strengths and weaknesses
Identify the optimal development area
Come up with a plan to improve
Have you socialize that plan
Do the work to get better
Confirm progress
Done well, steps 2, 6, and 8 all include the same people.
They provided their feedback
They understood your plan to improve
They acknowledged the growth you showed
But you don't need a coach to run this. You can do it yourself.
Build Your Profile
For some, self-reflection is easy:
Regular journaling
Talking aloud to a partner
Daily moments of mindfulness
For others, they need prompts, a tool.
Here's a free one called PrinciplesYou.
Note: This is a GPS, not an algorithm. It provides a direction, not an answer.
Regardless of whether you generated a list of strengths and weaknesses from reflection or preferences from a test, you need to prioritize them.
Map attributes into a 2x2:
Resonates & doesn't resonate
Important & unimportant
For "Resonates & Important"
Double down on one strength
Pick one weakness to improve
For "Doesn't Resonate & Important"
Seek more data
Caution: this could be a blindspot
For all "Unimportant," you can ignore for now. It might matter to you as a person, but if it's not critical to your growth as a professional, it's not where you need to focus. Edit ruthlessly.
Tip: If you pick more than 1-2 things to develop, it simply won't happen. Worse, no one will notice. They're not paying nearly as much attention to you as you might think. Stay simple. Stay focused.
Enlist The Help Of Others
I'm sorry, but you're a liar. We all are.
We don't mean to, but we all have blind spots.
To guard against this, share the results:
Ask your friends
Ask your family
Ask your peers
Ask your boss
Don't lead the witness. Encourage radical honesty.
And if you're worried about approaching them, try this:
"I'd love your help."
Only the coldest soul can resist helping when asked.
Now recast your profile based on their input.
Tip: Be willing to do the same for them. You'll get what you give.
Leadership Jedi Is Our New Standard
![](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b00b0c48-30df-4355-b8e4-810e418a2388/image.png)
“Thanks everyone for the boost these past 5 weeks! This is a great group, and I’m glad I got to know some of you a little better. I look forward to future conversations with you.
Dave and Mar, thanks for the opportunity! I struggled to come up with the impact, so I attached the photo. Let’s level up my leadership!”
— Justin (Boeing)
If you haven’t used your professional development budget for 2023, why not join 50+ leaders in our next cohort and start 2024 a step ahead?
Declare Your Intent Publicly
Good news: The people who care about you want to help.
Better news: Telling them what you're doubling down on and how you want to grow helps focus their assistance.
Best news: Accountability. You won't want to let them down.
Want to be even more strategic about their engagement?
Build your personal Board of Trustees.
Here's mine: