On one of my 530am walks,
I felt God telling me,
“To do the right thing, is to trust Me.
What your heart prefers to do and what most of your mentors have advised is what falls under Good Leadership.
But I’m calling you to step out of your comfort zone, to exercise Exceptional Leadership.
That comes with great risk, a potential falling out. Will you trust Me?”
It reminded me, how Leadership is a lot like training for the swim component of a triathlon.
A lot of it is technical.
There is a great deal of practice and strict drills (think principles to adhere to), to help one get stronger.
In drill training, and the laying down of foundational principles, there can be no compromise, no deviation.
Like leadership in real life, the Open Water component of a triathlon is a completely different ball game from daily practice.
You’re thrown back and forth in the waves, there’re sea bugs stinging you, it’s a mudbath with the rule book thrown out the window.
What do you do? You swim! You rely on your instincts forged from the principles of your training.
You trust yourself, and trust God.
In my darkest moments, I’ve always felt that my strengthsfinder or personality test never matched up to being a good leader.
In my head, a voice tells me I’m the “wrong type.”
But this week, something happened that so affirmed my spirit.
I threw the “rule book”out of the window.
I relied on my instincts and prayer.
I took a big risk.
My reward?
I’ll never forget today when I was told,
“You’re an exceptional leader. I’ve never met any leader in my life who would do this for me. Other people just see me for what I can deliver. You took time to stop for me.”
😭
When you’re in open water, I truly believe you just have to trust your heart.
I can trust myself and my own unique brand of leadership.
I don’t have to change myself to fit the one size of “leadership” because there is NO one size.