Ignite: Real Leadership, Real Talk, Real Results

CONCLUSION

In pursuit of knowledge, every day something is acquired; in pursuit of wisdom, every day something is dropped.

— Lao Tzu, Chinese philosopher

I love the above quote because it highlights the importance of stopping just as much as starting. We spend our professional careers and, in fact, our lives acquiring new skills that we need to practise and take onboard. If it seems like an endless journey of learning new knowledge, that's because it is. What this quote from Lao Tzu highlights, however, is it is just as critical to stop doing things. This applies to our professional lives and our personal lives. If you decide to start doing sit-ups to get rid of that muffin top but continue to eat muffins, nothing is likely to change.

I hope this book has provided some knowledge and tips that you can apply to your leadership, and given you some insights that will result in you doing something differently. The change you make may be as simple as not using PowerPoint at your next presentation or sharing a personal story during your presentation. It may involve taking a stand for something at work or saying ‘no’ to something. Regardless how big or small the change is, I encourage you to make the change.

A final word

Can you indulge me one more time and allow me to share a final experience from my time at Harvard?

While at Harvard, one of the concepts we explored was the ‘frontier of competence’ and how you have to push yourself through this frontier for personal growth to occur. ...