Leadership: It all begins with a great foundation

In thinking about this topic, I recalled a story about a philosophy professor who once stood before his class with a large empty jar. He filled the jar with large rocks and asked his students if the jar was full. The students said yes, the jar was full. He then added small pebbles to the jar and asked again, “Is the jar full now?” The students agreed that the jar was indeed full. The professor then poured sand into the jar and asked again. The students then agreed that the jar was finally full.

The professor went on to explain that the jar signifies one’s life. The rocks are equivalent to the most important things in your life, such as family, health, and relationships. And if the pebbles and the sand were lost, the jar would still be full, and your life would still have a meaning. The pebbles represent the other things that matter in your life, such as your work, school, and house. These things often come and go, and are not permanent or essential to your overall wellbeing. And finally, the sand represents the remaining small stuff and material possessions in your life. Although these things mean something to your life as a whole, they are only accomplished once all the other things are in place. The metaphor here is that if you start with putting sand into the jar, you will not have room for rocks or pebbles.

This theory holds true for a leadership journey too. Unless you deal with the foundations of good leadership before digging deep, you may end up leading yourself to disastrous end because frustration sets in when you discover that you were not ready. Ensure you take the time to fill the jar with the rocks and the pebbles of your journey before filling it with sand.

So, how does one go about filling the jar in their leadership journey in the right order?

Firstly, right from the start of your journey you will need to make the time to ‘lock in’ the academic and other qualifications that you require in your chosen career. This includes, but is not limited to, studying for the key degree or other courses that you will need to master, reading through and learning from literature on leadership as well as any other educational interventions. While at this, it would do you good to study past leaders in and out of your field to learn how they grappled with challenges and how they developed and executed strategy.

Next, as you grow, you will discover that failure dots the road at every turn. Learning to cope with failure and learning from it is right at the core of the foundation, your bedrock. It requires a certain type of muscle to do so, which you must develop.

You will then need to learn to put yourself up for trying different things. Volunteer to lead projects and any other initiatives that come your way. A key mark of a good leader is self-initiative, and a volunteering mindset is a good way to build it. You will however need to be especially choosy when it comes to selecting the roles to volunteer for in ensuring that they will offer the experience you seek. As you do so, it becomes visible to all around you, and you will discover that your leaders will start to get comfortable with having you stand in for them on critical assignments. This gives you an opportunity to practise the key skills you will require for later.

Next you will need to practice self-accountability. Be proactive and carry out your responsibilities without forcing someone to keep following up on your progress. As a leader, you can never stop being accountable to others and yourself. Moments when you miss a deadline, don’t pay attention to details, fail to ask the right questions, etc, are moments when you stop being accountable, and inefficiencies begin to rise to the surface. Inefficiency is your biggest enemy. Don’t allow that to creep in.

You will also need to learn how to practise shared leadership early enough. Leadership is not a one-man show. Start practising how to work closely with colleagues and workmates. Build cohesion at work through putting together different project teams that are multi-faceted and learn to delegate without giving away accountability. Learn the strengths and development areas of your team and co-workers, and work with them on both. Also, learn the art of listening more and talking less. Listening allows you to prepare more intently and solve things that you otherwise couldn’t if you were only listening to yourself This is a core skill that needs to be learned over time so the sooner you start to practice it the faster you grow it.

Finally, learn to execute. Tackle problems and harness opportunities without delay. Adapt to situations quickly, and learn to the difference between urgent and important. You may have the best strategy in the world, but unless it is effectively and efficiently executed, you may as well have had none from the start.

In conclusion, to be an effective leader, you should prioritise important things in your journey, and then worry about pebbles and sand at a later time. When you are ready the opportunities that you seek will be plenty.