A Leadership Idea: Grow Up and Lead

What started as a leadership rant for me is developing into an transforming idea: it's easy to lead when things are going well and a leader is on top but it’s what leaders choose to do when they are at the bottom that defines them.

People are unique. Leadership experiences are too. You are responsible for yours.

Photo credit: iStockphoto

With this as my premise, I developed a manifesto. About this time last year, you voted my manifesto into the ranks of ChangeThis. The dedicated team at ChangeThis has been working away since then preparing over 190 manifestos for publication and now, it's my turn.

My manifesto, Grow Up and Lead, is live!

It's a work in progress. Even now, I can see how my thoughts have evolved since this first writing. It was difficult to not to take pen to paper and rewrite the whole thing but I wanted to remember where and how it all started.

Ideas come, ideas go and every now and then, I'll see an idea that stops me in my tracks. When it does, it's the perspective or the way the idea is nuanced that resonates with me. If an idea helps me re-frame an assumption or recognize a hidden belief, I am hooked. At the very least, presented well, an idea can be very entertaining.

Take a look at my manifesto and tell me what you think. What resonated with you and what fell flat? Where can I develop it further and where did I get off track? What did I miss? What would you add?

Ideas can define or destroy you.  I vote for define.

By Lisa Rosendahl