The Three Stages of a Leader

A leader grows in the same method a tree grows. A tree grows in three ways throughout its life.

The Emerging Leader

The trees roots which tunnel into the ground and establish a solid foundation for the tree. The roots of your leadership form the firm foundation for you to build upon. This is your character, competence, courage and commitment or you C4 of your leadership. This stage of leadership is what I call the emerging leader. The seed of leadership begins to grow and the foundation of their leadership begins to take root in their lives. Emerging leaders need time to build their personal, professional and leadership core competencies to establish rings of growth and development. They seek out opportunities for experience in order to harden their core skills.

The Enduring Leader

The tree shoot tip, which grows upward to increase the height of the tree. The shoot tip represents your upward growth and development to achieve greater things in your life and your leadership. It is you always reaching for the stars. An enduring leader continues to build a solid foundation in their personal, professional and leadership core competence to ensure they are well rooted in their skills. They have experienced success and failures as a leader and have learned valuable lessons that they can use as a leader. An enduring leader continues to seek out opportunities for growth and development and opportunities to use their skills to sharpen their capability.

The Experienced Leader

The tree diameter supports the upward growth of the tree and to expand the boundary of the trees territory. The tree diameter represents your ability to get out of your comfort zone and grow, develop, and reinvent yourself to expand leadership roles and responsibility. The growth rings of leadership start to grow and expand the boundary of the leader. The signs of growth and develop are present and the maturity of the leader is evident. The experienced leader’s years of growth, development, experience and life lessons have produced a harden core of personal, professional and leadership skills and critical thinking. The experienced leader now is a developer of other leaders and takes the time to invest their talents and skills into emerging and enduring leaders.