I had just listened to a session about life stories and I was thinking a lot about my father. Mine came in 2012, when I was invited to serve as a mentor at the Hesselbein Global Summit at Frances' alma mater, the University of Pittsburgh. Other people have their leadership identity discovery later in life. 'Leadership is not a matter of how to do, but rather a matter of how to be.'įrances learned 'how to be' at the tender age of seven in her beloved grandmother’s living room.
Some people recognize the “defining moments” of their leadership journey early in life. In the pursuit of transformational leader development, it's valuable to reflect on the specific point or moments in your life that illustrate the essence of who you aspire to be as a leader. Mark Twain famously said, 'The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.'
