Three lessons learned about leadership while writing a book

I’ve spent the bulk of January writing my first book. It’s about two-thirds finished. The editor, book designer and printer are all on stand-by. It will be available mid-year. The process of writing has helped me reflect on some of the core lessons we all need to learn as leaders:

1.      Advice is cheap

If you ask, there are plenty of people with an opinion on what you should do and how you should do it. But as leaders and writers, we need to remember each of us is wired differently and the advice that has worked for a person in a situation won’t necessarily work for everyone.

Lesson: Listen with curiosity and openness and then trust your judgement.

2.      Leadership is a lonely business

Writing is a lonely business. You spend a lot of time in your head thinking. Leadership is lonely too. In both scenarios you are forging a new path, one few others choose to tread. The more senior you become, the more leading-edge your thinking, or the more radical the change you are seeking to lead, the smaller the group of true confidants.

Lesson: Nurture relationships with those who can best support you before you need them.

3.      We need time to think

In his wonderful book Deep Work, Cal Newport extols the virtue of creating space in our lives to develop the skill of focusing without distraction on cognitively demanding tasks.  As thinkers, and leaders we rarely have or create enough space for this. But uninterrupted time for considered thought is the commodity that we and the planet need most if we are to meet the challenges we face.

Lesson: To realise our potential we have to prioritise regular time for deep thought.