Riding the Wave of Learning and Leading, Together

In my experience in both the military and private sectors, there are two 30 year observations that relate to learning and leading.

The first one is that learning and leading are both contagious behaviors. When we are around the positive rhythm of someone growing and learning we just know it.

Learning exercises is the mind, which creates chemicals related to happiness. Leading exercises the heart and creates those same chemicals - just coming from a different direction of the body.

There is an unusual sense of confidence and clarity that manifests when a person learns and leads simultaneously.

So what happens in an organization when more people are continually learning and leading? Well, that sustained combination forms not just an inclusive culture, but a leading one as well. 🔋

When we posed a microsurvey in the Leaderly application about which culture people would most want to be part of, the answer was resoundingly high as wanting to be part of a leading culture (84%). I was in the 82nd Airborne in the early 1990’s and the collective energy to lead (amongst all ranks) was timeless about that culture. I experienced the same energy, cadence and contagion years later while at salesforce in the early 2000’s.

The greatest barrier to creating a leading culture is when the professional development is inconvenient, selective and out of sync with how people work. The other barrier is when leader development is offered “only to leaders.” Talk about a losing proposition.

If an organization could deliver continuous learning that is more fluid and inclusive, self-paced and persistent, then the accelerant of learning will naturally fuel a better culture of leading. And as long as that leadership development experience is offered to everyone then an organization just can lose.

Wouldn’t we all want to be part of an organization that makes learning easier and leading more regular? With the advancements in artificial intelligence and mobile learning, that future of growing more leading cultures is closer than we think.

Don’t just learn for learning’s sake. Learn to lead, to grow and be part of a new trend where learning and leading are for life. Then invite others to do the same and watch how contagious and continuous that wave becomes.

— Drew Bartkiewicz, Leaderly CEO