Leadership Qualities

Most of this week I am spending my time in a leadership development class. Now, I should properly set up that this is a big deal ... it's a class that only a very small group of "future leaders" ad the big Co. get to attend. In fact, you are told numerous times throughout the course what an honor it is to be there, that you are there because your have been identified as a leader with great potential. And it's true, people make a big deal out of it if they find out you are going ... and it's pretty secretive ... like flight club ... what happens at LEAD stays at LEAD and you aren't supposed to talk about the specifics of the experience.

What you are supposed to talk about is what you learn about yourself as a leader. There's a lot of role playing and group activities. For an introvert like me ... the role playing is an amazing energy suck. You have a coach guide you throughout the experience and then each day you have a new assessor who critical examines how you handled yourself during the role play and then gives you feedback. You get a lot of feedback. You also get a lot of ideas on different ways to lead your team differently and you get to hear from different leaders across the big Co.

It's pretty cool. I've learned that some things I thought I was decent at, I should take a whole different approach and I will be even better. Other things are just affirmation (guess you can't change who you are at the core :)) and it's funny how there are themes, even though your assessors are different and your coach is different. I also love that you get 360 feedback from a bunch of folks and I feel very honored that everyone I asked completed the survey. Of course my super-analytical self wants to know who says what ... but I'll just have to leave that be for now.

I can't wait until Friday at 4:30 though ... because for this introvert ... being "on" for three days straight with no break (and did I mention the abundance of role-playing???)  is seriously taking it's toll and I can only hope I make it through tomorrow as unscathed as possible.