Metanoia

Development in the leadership context is a disintegration/reintegration process. The word “metanoia” is commonly understood to mean a transformative change of heart, and that is what leadership development is; it is metanoia and metamorphosis.

At each step along the way, there is both loss and gain. At each developmental inflection point, we must let go of old ways of seeing and knowing before finding new ways of sense-making. You let go of the old operating system before the new one can boot up. This letting go indeed is destabilizing, and it’s harder on some people than others.

The old operating system, i.e., the way we know ourselves and our reality, is being deconstructed with each developmental stage. It comes apart so that the new way of being, of leading, can be reconstructed.

These kinds of changes are difficult. These are transitions akin to the ones you encountered going from childhood to adulthood. Don’t be surprised if you encounter resistance to them.

If leadership truly is the deployment of “self into circumstances,” then how you “show up” matters. Your heart matters, and yes, you will have a change of heart as you grow as a leader.

You will experience metanoia.

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