Learning Leadership

Chapter 8Who You Are Isn't Who You Will Be

When you look back 10 years, are things the same today as they were then? And, when you look back those 10 years, are you doing now what you were doing then? We bet your answers to both questions are no.

Here are two more questions to consider: Looking ahead 10 years, do you expect the world to be different from what it is today? And, looking ahead 10 years from now, do you expect to be doing something different than you are doing today? To these questions, we'd bet your answers are yes. The point is obvious, isn't it?

Time passes. Contexts and people change. How the world will be in the future is likely to be different from how it is in the present or was in the past. Who you will be in the future is also likely to be different than who you are now or were in the past. Although this statement may seem so transparent and simple, it's crucial that you appreciate just how significant this observation is.¹ It gets to the very essence of what leaders do, and a big part of that is influencing just what the future will be like five, 10, or 20 years down the road. It forces you to ask and answer for yourself such questions as: What do I want the world to be like in 10 years? What are my aspirations for my future? What can I do to help create that future? What can I do to influence the future direction in which other people head? What kind of a person, and leader, do I want to become?

The Domain of Leaders Is the Future

The capacity to imagine ...