In my backyard I have two trees that are young and still seeking to take strong hold in the desert.
At the bottom of the tree were little saplings that looked very healthy. They were present early in the springtime as little buds and by the time I did anything about them it was nearly a whole tree by itself at the root of the trunk.
What I later realized is the tree needs that nourishment to go to the rest of the tree to strengthen it against the elements of the desert. Unintentionally, I let the saplings grow, taking good energy from the rest of the tree.
Becoming a strong leader is like becoming a strong tree. We must prune early the parts that do not help us grow in the areas we want to grow.
For me, this week I was spending a lot of time with colleagues that are wonderful, but it was preventing me from spending time on strategic planning and thinking. This week I needed to prune the extra meetings with colleagues and divert that “nourishment” towards the strategic planning. Next week might be the opposite. The most important part of this is that we have an idea of what we want our “tree” to look like. Without that purpose and intentionality pruning won’t matter.
What came to mind to you as you read this? What are you being taught? Write down your thoughts and decide to take one action from it.
