“What got you here won’t get you there.”

Marshall Goldsmith

I first heard the above quote while listening to leadership expert John C. Maxwell.  As I have had the opportunity to work with different leaders and also in my own life I have realized the truth in this statement.

Recently I read Pour Your Heart Into It by Howard Shultz, the founder of Starbucks.  As he shares his journey leading Starbucks, he highlights ways he has had to evolve as a leader.  As you read the four phases of his evolution as a leader, take time to evaluate where you are in your leadership journey.

Dreamer

In his classic book Think and Grow Rich Napoleon Hill highlights how he found the successful people he studied had a burning desire to accomplish their goal.  In the beginning of anything we want to lead we have an idea or dream we are pursuing.

Shultz saw the dream of what could be in cafes in Milan, Italy and returned to Seattle to propose his idea to the owners of the original Starbucks.  In the beginning you have a dream and must fight for that dream to help make it become a reality.

Entrepreneur

The dream has rooted and is exiting the start-up phase that requires great amounts of hustle from you as the leader.  Now it is starting to develop a life of its own.  As an entrepreneurial leader, you are constantly testing new ideas, failing, adjusting the plan and re-entering the process.

Leading from this stage requires courage and flexibility.  Courage to try new things and flexibility to adjust plans quickly.  This is the second growth stage.

Professional Manager

The organization is now entering another growth stage requiring systems and processes to enable it to scale to the next level.  As a professional manager leader you create systems and processes and work through other people to accomplish the vision.  Leaders in this stage may have to face a big mental hurdle:  letting go of control.

As a leader in this stage you do not have the capacity to be involved in every aspect of the business.  Because of this you either develop systems or hire people to complete certain tasks.  In this stage you still have a strong sense of the daily operations, but cannot implement all the work and begin to be more strategic in creative innovations.

Leader

As Starbucks scaled into a diversified international organization Shultz realized he had to evolve again.  This change was him becoming the leader.  He already was leading at each stage, but he had to become the visionary of the organization and depend on his team to inform his decisions.

As a leader in this stage you focus on thinking about future opportunities and coming alongside your team to overcome major organizational obstacles.  When your organization has grown to this level, develop a team of people around you smarter than you in the area they lead who inform you.  Then together you will make good decisions on what is best for the organization.

As you look at these four stages, which stage are you in now?  Do you need to grow into a new stage?  If so, which one?  Need help to grow your leadership?  Contact me for a no-cost discovery call to explore ways I may be able to help you or your team evolve as leaders.  Lead Well.

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