Growth Begins at the Perimeter

In 2006 I took a leadership class as part of my master’s course.  It was part of an EMBA program that had been geared towards the working professional.  This meant courses started on Saturday morning and over the next nine days, we would endure a deluge of information, and be responsible for passing a final exam the following Sunday. All of this, while maintaining the demands of a 40+ hour work week.   

This leadership class differed from the seven others we taken up to that point.  My classmates and I arrived at a classroom set up with tables and chairs arranged in a circle, and the professor sitting down with all of us.  He diverged from the typical course introduction and review of the syllabus, instead opting to pepper us with probing questions about who we were as leaders.

This continued until the first break of the morning, and with each passing minute, I found my desire for him to keep with routine growing stronger.  I simply wanted clearly defined deliverables so I could add them to my list, integrate them into my routine, and pass the course.  The slow pace, his calming voice, and the lack of clarity around outcomes was uncomfortable.  It broke our routine, and it angered me that this professor couldn’t simply follow the formulaic approach the previous seven professors had.

For much of the remainder of the nine days, I quietly protested in my head the injustice that was being done, and how his approach was making our learning unnecessarily difficult. 

Upon reflection, his slowing of the course, his lack of distinguishing specific outcomes, and his providing of space and time for us to reflect, was one of the most valuable things that happened to me over the entire EMBA course.

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 To grow, we must take time to intentionally understand where our physical, emotional and intellectual perimeters are and set out to challenge them.  2020 having likely been the greatest global stillness we will ever know, has been ripe with opportunity to understand and assess our perimeters. Once we have understood and identified them, we can choose when and how to challenge them. 

If not, those perimeters begin to atrophy, and we meet each new challenge with a more vigorous objection. Over time our abilities, and more importantly our desire to push ourselves, lessens.

The best thing you can do is be prepared to embrace the opportunities that today will present to explore and understand yourself more fully. Everyday can be revelatory and if you aren’t sure where to start, begin in silence.