{"id":2580,"date":"2012-10-02T03:00:02","date_gmt":"2012-10-02T10:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/?p=2580"},"modified":"2012-10-01T10:07:20","modified_gmt":"2012-10-01T17:07:20","slug":"why-leaders-should-never-simply-stick-with-what-theyre-good-at","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2012\/10\/02\/why-leaders-should-never-simply-stick-with-what-theyre-good-at\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Leaders Should Never Simply Stick with \u201cWhat They\u2019re Good At\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two happenings took place last week which not only created quite a stir in literary circles, but which also provided a powerful lesson in leadership.<\/p>\n

The first happening was the long-awaited release of J.K. Rowling\u2019s first book in five years. The book, titled The Casual Vacancy<\/em>, is aimed at adults and is her first book since the final installment in her Harry Potter children\u2019s series.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The second was the largely negative \u201cbuzz\u201d the book created among many critics.<\/p>\n

The New York Times wrote, “The real-life world she has limned in these pages is so wilfully banal, so depressingly clich\u00e9d that The Casual Vacancy<\/em> is not only disappointing \u2013 it’s dull.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added The Daily Mail, “More than 500 pages of relentless socialist manifesto masquerading as literature crammed down your throat.”<\/p>\n

Ouch.<\/p>\n

Perhaps, then, it\u2019s little wonder that the over-arching feeling of many has been summed up by the critic who decreed that Ms. Rowling should \u201cstick with what she\u2019s good at.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Look, I\u2019ve never read a Harry Potter book, and I won\u2019t be reading A Casual Vacancy<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But to suggest that someone should never dare step outside the confines of their predictable sphere is an affront to any creative person.<\/p>\n

And it also flies in the face of one of the prerequisites of effective leadership; courage.<\/p>\n

In addition to the need for humility<\/a><\/span>, leaders require the courage to know when it\u2019s time to step beyond the familiar, and to act on that courage.<\/p>\n

When you practice courageous leadership you can expect at least three important results:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>You can expect to possibly take your organization to new levels<\/strong>
\nThere is truth in the old saying that \u201cIf you keep doing what you\u2019re doing, you\u2019ll keep getting what you\u2019re getting.\u201d<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>You can expect to grow as a leader<\/strong>
\nCourage is a leadership muscle that must be flexed from time to time in order for you to grow in your leadership.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>You can expect to fail sometimes<\/strong>
\nTaking bold, courageous steps doesn\u2019t always work out. Simply know that to be true. And don\u2019t let it stop you.<\/p>\n

If you want to take your leadership – and your organization – to the next level, sometimes it starts with a dose of courage.<\/p>\n

And you may need to move beyond \u201cwhat you\u2019re good at\u201d.<\/p>\n

When have you exercized the leadership courage to press beyond what everyone else expects? What were the results?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two happenings took place last week which not only created quite a stir in literary circles, but which also provided a powerful lesson in leadership. The first happening was the long-awaited release of J.K. Rowling\u2019s first book in five years. The book, titled The Casual Vacancy, is aimed at adults and is her first book…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[478,7],"tags":[975,245,972,971,973,974],"class_list":["post-2580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-leadership","tag-courage","tag-creativity","tag-familiarity","tag-harry-potter","tag-predictable","tag-step-out"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2580"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2590,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2580\/revisions\/2590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}