What truly drives successful leadership beyond profit margins and KPIs? What if the key to exceptional leadership lies in the depth of personal purpose?
Jerry Colonna, renowned executive coach and author of Reboot, explores how leading with purpose transforms both leaders and their organizations. He reveals that authentic leadership emerges when personal values align with professional actions, creating a ripple effect of positive change throughout teams and communities.
Continue reading to learn how to change your approach to leadership and personal growth.
Finding Purpose as a Career-Focused Leader
Colonna suggests that true fulfillment in a leadership position comes from aligning one’s career pursuits with a deeply personal sense of purpose. It’s more about conducting our lives with purpose and honesty, and discovering significance in the everyday gestures of kindness and engagement that constitute our existence.
Colonna narrates the story of an entrepreneur who is wrestling with feelings of uncertainty and instability. Colonna realized that by embedding honesty and authenticity into his everyday life, he could lead with purpose, making the need for external validation unnecessary.
Ultimately, Colonna argues that true leadership goes beyond the chase for monetary rewards or public recognition, centering on the ongoing transformation into an individual who embodies compassion, vulnerability, and courage, all while committed to nurturing a more benevolent community.
| Practical Tips • Volunteer for projects or roles outside your current job scope that align with your personal purpose. This hands-on approach allows you to test how well your personal purpose fits with different aspects of leadership. If your purpose involves community impact, you might volunteer to lead a corporate social responsibility initiative at your workplace. • Start a “Significance Journal” where you jot down small actions you take each day that align with your purpose and honesty. This could be as simple as choosing not to tell a white lie or making a decision that reflects your core values. Over time, you’ll have a record of how these actions contribute to a meaningful life. • Create a “No Small Talk” challenge with friends or family where for a week, you only engage in meaningful conversations. This can help you practice authenticity by encouraging deeper connections and avoiding superficial interactions. During this time, you might discuss personal goals, fears, or share stories that you usually wouldn’t, which can lead to a more energized and authentic relationship with others. • Implement a “Compliment Detox” by consciously avoiding giving or seeking compliments for a week. Instead, focus on self-affirmation and recognizing your own achievements without external input. During this time, when you accomplish something, instead of telling others, write down how it contributes to your personal goals and what it says about your character. • Implement a ‘silent success’ policy in your team or group projects where contributions are made anonymously. This could be as simple as using a suggestion box where team members can drop ideas without attaching their names, encouraging a culture where the merit of the idea matters more than who proposed it, thus fostering a true team spirit. • Create a “Courage Challenge” for yourself each month, where you commit to doing something that pushes you out of your comfort zone. This could be as simple as speaking up in a meeting when you usually stay quiet or trying a new activity that intimidates you. Track your experiences and the feelings associated with them to recognize your growth in courage over time. • Start a ‘kindness ripple’ by performing one unexpected act of kindness each day and encourage the recipient to pay it forward. This could be as simple as leaving a positive note for a coworker, paying for the person behind you in a coffee line, or offering to help a neighbor with yard work. The key is to do it without seeking recognition, fostering a culture of benevolence that can spread through your community. |
