The Purposeful Leadership Challenge. Part 2: Let’s make things difficult for ourselves

In our previous article we put in to words what many business leaders — including ourselves — are feeling inside: a concern that we will all miss a golden opportunity to make lasting changes because returning to what we once knew seems more likely than not.

So, assuming we’re not happy to revert to type, is there anything we can do?

Thankfully, yes.

The first is what we call ‘purposeful disruption’. Deliberately moving outside your comfort zone and experiencing something that jolts or de-rails our usual perspective.

This could be as simple as connecting with a stranger through to deeply immersing ourselves in communities with whom we would never normally convene.

It is through these types of experiences that we see new and different aspects of ourselves, or start to better realise some of the flawed assumptions we hold about others or how the world works. It is within this opening up of our awareness that expanded growth can occur.

Admittedly, this is easier said than done. Any leader committed to lifelong development will still need to have courage, humility and openness to mentally sign up for this.

The fact is, the more successful we are, the more we are likely to cling on to the world view that got us here. This is only natural. But, in the words of Edward de Bono, inventor of the term ‘lateral thinking’, we don’t dig a new hole by making the same one deeper.

Are you ready to take on the disruption of becoming a more purposeful organisation? Take our readiness indicator to check.