Working on our Craft

It is 4:30 am and I am wondering why I am awake.  I heard a noise that I didn't recognize at first in my half-asleep haze and then I realized...

IT WAS RAIN!

Wow - who knew!?

See, we have been going through a pretty significant drought where I live and haven't had rain in quite some time so when I heard the noise outside I couldn't figure out what it was or where it was coming from.  Only when I got up and walked into the kitchen did it finally hit me what I was hearing - rain hitting the ground.

Too funny...

But that has nothing to do with this post other then to wake me up and keep me from falling back to sleep.  Or at least I'll blame my temporary insomnia on the surprise of rain.

I have no idea why I started thinking about my blog and what to write this morning.  As you can see in reviewing my recent posts - that there are no recent posts - but this morning I was thinking about how many of the people I encounter in my work day do not work on their craft of leadership.  I work in retail and I moved into the HR side of our business a couple of years ago and what this move has done for me is to see more of how people lead or do not lead - or at least do not lead well.  And it's not for a lack of trying but more of a lack of tools or how to.

I often say "everything is easy once you know how to do it."  You study, you learn, you perfect, you master and then "it" becomes easy or easier.

Leadership can be this way too.

But many of us, once we get to a leadership position, stop perfecting our craft.  We stop studying, we stop learning, we do not strive to master.

I wonder why?

Leading, if done well, is very rewarding and yet I see a lot of stress in the leaders I come in contact with and I think it's because the leader has become stagnant and stop learning and developing.  Because the people we lead are constantly changing and growing, we as leaders must do the same.  We must continue to work on our craft...

(A couple of screen shots from Dan Rockwell and Tim Sanders)