CHAPTER II Understanding and Aligning Your Leadership Story

Your leadership story is complex and dynamic. Since leadership is a journey that involves the past, present, and future, your leadership story evolves. It is the result of numerous factors over time. The good news? Your leadership story has developed and will continue to develop. This suggests that you have the ability to reflect on and learn from the past. It also suggests that you have the ability to shape the future of your leadership story. Doing so will take work and commitment on your part. It also requires that you start with a framework in which to think about your leadership story.

To understand or write a story, as we all learned in literature classes, you have to consider several elements of your story and provide details that will help it to have the desired impact.

But do not misinterpret what I am saying. By putting forth these story elements, I am not encouraging you to fictionalize your life. Rather, you are using them as tools to understand how your story might well vary from how others describe your leadership. You should not have two leadership stories contradicting each other. When that happens, you will be perceived as lacking authenticity. Over time, it will drain the energy and motivation from those you lead. What's more, your true story, your fuller story, goes beyond your surface appearance to your more deeply held values, beliefs, and actions.