Are YOU an Evolutionary Executive™?

The word evolve comes from the Latin root evolvere meaning “to unfold, open out, expand.”

The word evolution is defined as “growth to maturity and development” or “a process of gradual, peaceful, progressive adaptation or development.”

So being an “evolutionary” executive is all about YOU unfolding and opening your relationship and leadership skills through an ongoing process of expansion, adaptation, development, and growth.

The secret, however, is that the process of evolution does not have a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ final destination. The process is always taking place along a continuum. Just as biological evolution is described along a continuum from less biologically adapted to more biologically adapted, executive evolution can also be understood along a similar continuum from less effective leadership to more effective leadership.

And since there is always room for more development, greater maturity, and broader expansion, there’s no limit to how effective and efficient you can become with your team and your company!

Where would you place yourself (and your team members) along the Evolutionary Executive™ continuum?

• Do you need to win by exerting power over someone or a situation, or do you succeed by leveraging your strengths and power from within?
• Are you motivated by an Us vs. Them world view, or do you practice a We’re All in This Together collaborative mindset?
• Are you trying hard to be something you think you should be, or do you leverage and express all your strengths authentically and appropriately?
• Do you try to impose a conditioned definition of ‘right’ change, or do you align your thoughts and actions with the natural processes of change?
• Do you see challenges as win/lose battles, or as opportunities for gaining new wisdom and clarity?
• Do you place blame and assign fault, or do you take full personal responsibility for all your thoughts, words and actions?
• Do you fight to change the system from ‘wrong‘ to ‘right’, or do you view changes in the system along a sliding scale from less productive to more productive?
• Do you try to change others, or do you focus on changing yourself?
• Do you tell your team members what to do and how to do it, or do you coach them to embody and express their own wisdom and creativity?

Wherever you see yourself along the Evolutionary Executive™ continuum, congratulations on your awareness! And while you were reading the descriptions above, if you thought of even just one way you could further develop your leadership skills, double congratulations – you just “woke up” a little more!

My favorite part of researching the history of the word evolution was discovering that in the 1640s it was used to describe “an opening of what was rolled up.”

That’s how I define “waking up” – the opening of a new awareness that was previously rolled up in your consciousness.

SO…

… what leadership skills have been rolled up in you that now need to be opened and awakened?

… are you ready to create a peaceful, progressive, and intentional path for your own growth to maturity as a leader in your organization?

… is it time to establish a work environment that is most conducive to leading your team along their own paths of personal and professional evolution?