Leadership Development Killer

Just this week I visited with a lead leader and coach who confirmed to me some most valuable information about personal growth.  I asked him what he would consider the biggest obstacle to leadership development.  He said that when leaders can't take critique, they don't move forward.  I jumped in and said, "It's insecurity, isn't it?"  This opened up a discussion between us on what is insecurity, why leaders are insecure and how it keeps them from going to the next level.  

Here's the point:  Insecurity is a leadership development killer.  When a person is threatened by someone else looking into their life, they box themselves in and limit their ability to see differently.  When we only see what we see, our perspective is skewed.  We need honest people to see and speak into us, gaining nothing personally.   This is not to say that having another person in our life to help us see improvement potential isn't going to be challenging and even painful.  Growth is a stretching experience.

Determine not to allow yourself, your feelings, your emotions to get in the way of an opportunity to grow.  If leaders don't grow, they lead from a swallow center and capacity.  And, when leaders aren't growing, they eventually stop leading.  Practice allowing trusted, capable individuals to speak candidly about what they see in you.  Remove the killer so that you can...as John Maxwell says, "develop the leader within you."

How can you remove the killer of insecurity to your development now?