Leadership and personal growth: Strategies for becoming a better leader
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62037/cjer.2025.05.01.04Keywords:
Leadership, personal growth, leaders’ growth, strategies, a better leaderAbstract
Personal growth plays a significant role in leadership. As long as leaders are still accountable for their people and organizations, they should not take personal growth for granted. Good leaders are lifelong learners, and they strive for excellence in their field. Drawing on the second data, this review article aims to discuss the association between leadership and personal growth. It begins with the importance of personal growth to leaders themselves, their employees, and their organizations. Then, the article outlines three major components for effective leadership development, including the right mindset, the right practice, and the right contribution. In the right mindset, leaders need to embrace a growth mindset, a beginner mindset, and a failing forward mindset. In the right practice, leaders need to understand the phases of leadership development, be curious, be like a sponge, target leadership skills, excel in character skills, get comfortable with discomfort, partner with growth-minded people, learn to become a reader, and design an effective system. In the right contribution, leaders share their knowledge, wisdom, experience, expertise, and other skills to benefit others, and they desire the best for their people. The article concludes that great leaders are made, not born. As leaders make an effort to become successful in their profession, they should avoid resting on their laurels. They pass what they know to their people and desire the best for them.
Downloads
References
Ashford, J. S., Blatt, R., & VandeWalle, D. (2003). Reflections on the looking glass: A review of research on feedback-seeking behavior in organizations. Journal of Management, 29(6), 773–799. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0149-2063(03)00079-5
Ben-Shahar, T. (2021). Happier, no matter what: Cultivating hope, resilience, and purpose in hard times. The Experiment.
Campos, F., Frese, M., Goldstein, M., Iacovone, L., Johnson, C. H., Mckenzie, D., & Mensmann, M. (2017). Teaching personal initiative beats traditional training in boosting small business in West Africa. Science, 357(6357), 1287–1290. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aan5329
Chetty, R., Friedman, N. J., Hilger, N., Saez, E., Schanzenbach, W. D., & Yagan, D. (2011). How does your kindergarten classroom affect your earnings? Evidence from Project Star. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 126(4), 1593–1660. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjr041
Clear, J. (2018): Atomic habits: An easy & proven way to build good habits & break bad ones. Avery.
Cohen, W. M., & Levinthal, D. A. (1990). Absorptive capacity: A new perspective on learning and innovation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35(1), 128–152. https://doi.org/10.2307/2393553
Collins, J. (2001). Good to great: Why some companies make the leap and others don’t. Random House Business.
Collins, J., & Lazier, B. (2020). Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0: Turning your business into an enduring great company. Portfolio / Penguin.
Côté, J. (1999). The influence of the family in the development of talent in sport. The Sport Psychologist, 13(4), 395–417. https://doi.org/10.1123/tsp.13.4.395
Covey, S. (1998). The 7 habits of highly effective teens. Touchstone Books.
Daniel, D. B., & Woody, W. D. (2010). They hear, but do not listen: Retention for podcasted material in a classroom context. Teaching of Psychology, 37(3), 199–203. https://doi.org/10.1080/00986283.2010.488542
Drucker, P. F., & Maciariello, J. A. (2004). The daily Drucker: 366 days of insight and motivation for getting the right things done. Harper Business.
Dweck, C. S. (2017). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Robinson.
Goodall, A. H. (2011). Physician–leaders and hospital performance: Is there an association? Social Science & Medicine, 73(4), 535–539. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.06.025
Goodreads. (n.d.). Quotable quote. https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/63067-it-s-what-you-learn-after-you-know-it-all-that
Grant, A. (2013). Give and take: Why helping others drives our success. Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
Grant, A. (2023). Hidden potential: The science of achieving greater things. W. H. Allen.
Grant, A. M., Berg, J. M., & Cable, D. M. (2014). Job titles as identity badges: How self-reflective titles can reduce emotional exhaustion. The Academy of Management Journal, 57(4), 1201–1225. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43589302
Harvard Business Review. (2011). The essentials: An introduction to the most enduring ideas on management from Harvard Business Review.
Harvard Business Review. (2015). Harvard Business Review manager’s handbook: The 17 skills leaders need to stand out.
Kim, W. C., & Mauborgne, R. (2017). The W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne blue ocean strategy reader: The iconic articles by bestselling authors of blue ocean strategy. Harvard Business Review Press.
Kouzes, J. M., Posner, B. Z., & Biech, E. (2017). A coach’s guide to developing exemplary leaders: Making the most of the leadership challenge and the leadership practices inventory (LPI). Wiley.
Macnamara, B. N., Hambrick, D. Z., & Oswald, F. L. (2014). Deliberate practice and performance in music, games, sports, education, and professions: A meta-analysis. Psychological Science, 25(8), 1608–1618. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614535810
Maxwell, J. C. (2003). Attitude 101: What every leader needs to know. Jaico Publishing House.
Maxwell, J. C. (2007). The 21 irrefutable laws of leadership: Follow them and people will follow you (10th anniversary edition). HarperCollins Leadership.
Maxwell, J. C. (2008). Leadership gold: Lessons I’ve learned from a lifetime of leading. HarperCollins Leadership.
Maxwell, J. C. (2012). The complete 101 collection: What every leader needs to know. HarperCollins Leadership.
Maxwell, J. C. (2018). Developing the leader within you 2.0. HarperCollins Leadership.
Maxwell, J. C. (2019). Leadership secret: 365 days of insight to develop the leader in you. Jaico Publishing House.
Maxwell, J. C. (2021). The self-aware leader: Play to your strengths, unleash your team. HarperCollins Leadership.
Maxwell, J. C. (2022a). The 21 irrefutable laws of leadership: Follow them and people will follow you (25th anniversary edition). HarperCollins Leadership.
Maxwell, J. C. (2022b). The 15 invaluable laws of growth: Live them and reach your potential. Center Street.
Maxwell, J. C. (2023). The 16 undeniable laws of communication: Apply them and make the most of your message. Maxwell Leadership.
Maxwell, J. C. (2024). High road leadership: Bringing people together in a world that divides. Maxwell Leadership.
Maxwell, J. C., & Hoskins, R. (2021). Change your world: How anyone, anywhere can make a difference. HarperCollins Leadership.
Olson, D. (2019, November). Sea sponges: Pharmacies of the sea. Smithsonian. https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/invertebrates/sea-sponges-pharmacies-sea
Osteen, J. (2015). Daily readings from you can, you will: 90 devotions to becoming a winner. Faith Words.
Peter, L. J., & Hull, R. (2020). The Peter principle: Why things always go wrong. Profile Books.
Quach, M. J. (2018). Mengly J. Quach’s 108 ideal practices. Mengly J. Quach University Press.
Sharma, R. (2019). The world changers manifesto. The Titan Academy Global.
Sharma, R. (2020). The monk who sold his Ferrari: A fable about fulfilling your dreams & reaching your destiny. Jaico Publishing House.
Skipper, C. (2024, July 8). Why this stoic philosophy expert doesn’t believe in setting goals. GQ. https://www.gq.com/story/routine-excellence-ryan-holiday
Tracy, B., & Chee, P. (2013). 12 disciplines of leadership excellence: How leaders achieve sustainable high performance. McGraw Hill Education.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The articles published by this journal are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made.
