Every leader walks through the growing season. A place where necessary transformation takes place. The process can be painful, exuberant, and everything in between. It is inevitable.
The Growing Season
I grew up gardening with my paternal grandfather, Paw Paw. He and I would spend weekends at his land in Canton, Georgia during the growing season. We affectionately referred to this special place as, “The Land.” It was how I spent my childhood with him, it was how I spent his final days with him.
While it’s on a much smaller scale, I still enjoy the growing season. I have a 4’x8’ raised bed in the backyard along with a few planters on the deck.
The temperatures in Georgia are warming up. The consistency in those warmer temperatures signify that we are entering the growing season. A transition from the lifeLESSness of winter into the lifeFULLness of spring.
The world of leadership offers a very similar transition. There are three important things we must understand about the growing season of leadership:
Preparation
There is no growing season without a season of preparation. I vividly remember walking behind Paw Paw’s tractor picking up large rocks that his disc blades kicked up. The discs would turn the soil over from compacted ground into soft, aerated, and prepared soil. It was the required first step in preparing for the growing season.
If we had just started digging holes in the ground and planting things, we would have experienced great disappointment. It just doesn’t work. Tilling the land first creates conditions for growth.
In leadership, the same is true. Humans possess an innate desire for positional influence. Very few leaders dream of the day where they get Stuck at the bottom of the organizational chart.
Preparation for the growing season of leadership can be found within books, podcasts, seminars, and conferences. It can also be found in experiences. Fellow leadership blogger and friend, Brian Dodd,recently spoke at our Acworth Business Association’s monthly luncheon. He offered this gem of advice to young leaders, “Lighten your leader’s load.” When we do this, we expose ourselves to invaluable experiences.
Any of this preparation creates the proper conditions for growth.
Timing
I am running a significant risk by putting plants in the ground this week. My grandfather taught me that it was safest to start the first week in May. It mitigates the risk of a late frost wiping out all of the hard work. Fortunately, I have a fifteen-day forecast that gives me a pretty good indication of whether I can plant early or not.
Although he provided me with this clear guidance, there have been years that my ambition got me in trouble. My anxiousness to begin the growing process too early led to costly replacement of the plants due to a late April frost. The intentions I had were pure, I just got ahead of myself before the right growing season arrived. Impatience led to poor timing.
Ambition is a word commonly used in leadership. It is a way for us to show the world we aspire to do more and be more. Ambition can be a driver of success. However, the challenge is that it serves no one else but us. It is selfish growth, not selfless.
When we are too ambitious, our seeds of growth get sewn in the ground too early. Things bloom in advance of the proper growing season and we risk unnecessary, costly failures.
Great personal discipline must be exercised in our timing to experience the fruits of our leadership. It always happens when we are ready, never a moment sooner.
Significance
The interesting thing about my grandfather is that he was a meat and potatoes kind of guy. He didn’t eat a lot of vegetables. Most of what we grew in the garden, he gave away.
We had a lot of success in the garden. Our harvests were always bountiful.
Success wasn’t the best part of the growing season. It was the significance of his greatest investment in me, his time. That time created memories that I will never forget. It significantly impacted the trajectory of my life.
There is a great book written by Bob Buford called Halftime. In it, he talks about the season of life and leadership where we transition from success to significance. Paw Paw got that. It was about significance.
Early in our careers, it’s all about the stats, trophies, awards, recognitions, and the next promotion. As we mature, we come to the realization that our success in life is actually measured by significance. It’s the amount of time that we give away that counts. Investing in others is the single greatest use of the precious amount of time we have left on earth.
Significance is the sole determinant of success in the growing season of leadership.
Conclusion
Don’t get me wrong, personal and professional growth is tremendously important. Personal growing seasons builds careers, puts food on the table, and provides for our families.
Personal success matters, it just has a limited lifespan. Leadership is about growing others, not ourselves. It leaves a legacy that will live well past our days.
An epilogue is an author’s summary of the book they wrote. It’s always located at the end. In life and leadership, someone else will write our epilogue. As Paw Paw did for me, let’s give this world good content to work with when ours is written.
Seek significance in the growing season and serve others.
