Andy Stanley has an incredible way of distilling a message into the minimum amount of content that will convey the point while still retaining its potency and remaining memorable. His exceptional ability to communicate effectively makes The Next Generation Leader a welcome addition to any student of leadership’s nightstand.

In The Next Generation Leader, Andy discusses five key areas of leadership: Competence, Courage, Clarity, Coachability, and Character. The first four are necessary to be an effective leader. The last is necessary to lead an effort of lasting significance and value.

In the area of Competence, Andy challenged me with two key leadership principles:

1. The less you do, the more you accomplish.
2. The less you do, the more you enable others to accomplish.

I tend to shy away from imposing on others, and as a result, probably do too much myself. In order to grow as a leader, I need to let go of some things so that I can accomplish more. To put it another way, I need to “only do what only I can do.”

In order to maximize my Competence, I need to be able to complete an objective self-evaluation. Since no one is truly objective, I’ll need to enlist others. Andy suggests requesting a mentor answer four questions:

1. If I came to work for you for free…
   - where in your organization would I add the most value?
   - where would you want me to focus my attention?
   - where would I stand the most chance of success?
   - what area or areas would you see to it that I avoid?
2. In my current work environment, where do you see misalignment between my core competencies and my responsibilities?
3. If you had an opportunity to advise my boss on where to better utilize me, what would your advice be?
4. Are you aware of areas in my life where there is misalignment between my passion and my competency?”
   – The Next Generation Leader, Andy Stanley, pp. 37-38

I intend to have my former manager answer these questions in an informal evaluation of my leadership capabilities. I think his honest perspective will be very valuable, and he knows me well enough to give meaningful answers to each question. I may ask others to answer them as well. It would be very interesting to hear multiple perspectives, and I consider understanding and focusing on my core competencies a necessary step toward improving my leadership ability.

I’ll write more on the other qualities in separate entries. For now, I’m going to accomplish more sleep by typing less!

Filed under: Leadership