{"id":2796,"date":"2013-02-04T19:26:50","date_gmt":"2013-02-05T03:26:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/?p=2796"},"modified":"2013-02-04T19:26:50","modified_gmt":"2013-02-05T03:26:50","slug":"3-essential-ways-to-expand-the-scope-of-your-leadership-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2013\/02\/04\/3-essential-ways-to-expand-the-scope-of-your-leadership-thinking\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Essential Ways to Expand the Scope of Your Leadership Thinking"},"content":{"rendered":"

I miss Tom.<\/p>\n

Tom was a good friend back in Canada with whom I found myself in almost constant disagreement.<\/p>\n

Our frequent discussions on matters of the church and leadership were always friendly and God-honoring. They were also joyously combative. We came from different backgrounds (different worlds<\/em> I sometimes thought) and our views on many core issues were often poles apart.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>But few people helped me grow as a leader quite the way Tom did.<\/p>\n

You see, years ago I learned that one of the most dangerous ways to stunt the growth of a leader is to limit your world only to perspectives which reinforce your outlook.<\/p>\n

Real growth as a leader happens when you purposefully allow your thinking to be challenged.<\/strong><\/p>\n

How do you do this?<\/p>\n

Here are 3 essential ways you can immediately expand the scope of your leadership thinking.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Seek out relationships with leaders from diverse backgrounds<\/strong><\/p>\n

Take out your calendar and look at the lunches, coffees and meetings you have scheduled with leaders over the next 30 days.<\/p>\n

How many are from beyond your organization, denomination and even worldview?<\/p>\n

Set a goal to develop one or two relationships with a leader you know to come from a radically different perspective.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Read books you know to be beyond your paradigm<\/strong><\/p>\n

Have a look at your bookshelf right now. What percentages of these titles are merely reinforcing your perspective?<\/p>\n

Aim to have a minimum of 10% of your reading from beyond your comfort zone.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Expose yourself to leadership training from diverse sources<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not long ago I took in a leadership conference sponsored by a Catholic organization. I am not Roman Catholic; I hold many divergent doctrinal positions from our Catholic brothers and sisters.<\/p>\n

But my thinking was radically stretched.<\/p>\n

At least once this year, expose yourself to leadership teaching from a leader outside your established world.<\/p>\n

So don\u2019t be like the person who recently told me they\u2019d never return to the WCA Global Leadership Summit, because they disagreed with the theology of one of last year\u2019s speakers.<\/p>\n

Discipline yourself to intentionally expand your thinking.<\/p>\n

You might even need to get a \u201cTom\u201d in your life.<\/p>\n

How do you expand your leadership thinking?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I miss Tom. Tom was a good friend back in Canada with whom I found myself in almost constant disagreement. Our frequent discussions on matters of the church and leadership were always friendly and God-honoring. They were also joyously combative. We came from different backgrounds (different worlds I sometimes thought) and our views on many…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"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":[],"class_list":["post-2796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-leadership"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2796","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\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2796"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2800,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2796\/revisions\/2800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}