Growing to Your Potential
Did you know I was always meant to be 5’8”? If you were to look at my father and mother you will see that neither of them were tall people. But obviously, I wasn’t born 5’8” (imagine that childbirth). Actually I was born 5 lbs., 10 oz. and 16 inches long. So how did I get from 16 inches long to reach my height of 5’8”? Simply one word, “growth”. Growth is something that is a fact of life on earth. Not only do we grow up, but we also grow old. Growth is happening all around us. However as leaders, it is very wise for us to be intentional about growth. This month we are going to look at this idea of growth and how we as leaders can be intentional about our growth.
Let me give you an example of what it means to be intentional about growth. Let’s take two trees and plant them side by side. One tree, we just let grow on its own. We never prune, we never trim it, and we never feed it. We just let it grow. The other tree we are constantly working with it. We are trimming it, we are shaping it, and we are feeding it with fertilizer. Which tree do you think will grow to its potential? I would like to submit to you that it is the 2nd tree that we intentionally are working with that will grow to its full potential. It is the same thing with leaders. We need to be constantly attending to and being intentional about our growth.
I want to make 2 general observations about growth.
Growth as a leader is not automatic. Just because you have a position of leadership doesn’t mean that you are going to grow as a leader. Sure you can grow physically without any effort, but you can’t grow mentally without any effort. Actually if you aren’t growing and moving forward, you are moving backward. So unlike the trees, leaders don’t grow automatically. If we don’t take responsibly for our own growth then it will not happen.
Growth as a leader also doesn’t just come from gathering information. You can read books, articles, blogs or journals and it doesn’t mean that you are growing. It means that you are getting more information. However, if that information is not applied to your life as a leader then it won’t make a difference. I know people who love to attend seminars because they get all kinds of information, but yet they aren’t growing. Why? Because after the seminar they take the notes home and put them on a bookshelf never to be opened and read again. “Life change is the proper measure of whether or not information makes a difference.”[1]
God has called each of you as leaders and has given you amazing potential to be a leader for His kingdom. What each of us as leaders need to look at is are we intentionally growing toward our potential? As our life comes to an end will we find ourselves saying, “There were so many growth opportunities that I didn’t take advantage of.” How do you intentionally plan on growing into the leader God has called you to be?
Conversation:
Do you have a personal growth plan?
Do you know those areas that you want or need to grow in?
[1] Today Matters, 281.