This summer, while I atended a Leadership course, we had a hot discussion on the course structure, and the willing of the professor to be us, the students, taking the lead and walk our own learning path. We the students were asking a more active role from his side, and he blamed us of not being concious of our potential and being coward to take a step forward. You don’t want to know how outstanding you are. You are extraordinary! he said. The following day he answered our demands with an overwhelming lecture on Based on experience learning… but I was not fully convinced of his theory. Some weeks after it all happened, reflection started to throw some light on the concept, but it has been six months from then when I think I am starting to fully understand what he meant.
You have to look at the innovation and management picture. Among the ingenieers, there are two posible paths to follow. The first one goes deep into one knowledge field: with the technical background you can become a high-value expert. That would be the conventional path to take. The other one is more abstact. It goes in the management and leadership direction, exploiting the inter-disciplinary aptitudes and the ability to critically analyse and take decisions that balance economy, technology and reality. This is the modern profile sometimes demanded in business: it uses technology as a tool that you already know thanks to your studies and bunch of practical experience, and highlights the intelectual and visionary approaches.
There is no good or bad path, but the professor assumed that if we were there because of the leadership topic, we somehow had interest on the second one. They are not absolute either, you can walk some steps into becoming expert on something, then abstract it gaining ‘big picture’ knowledge and strategy, and so on.
What I have experienced this last months is that the biggest obstacle in the leadership path is yourself. Finding a dead end and stop trying insted of going around. Thinking that you are not prepared for a bigger challenge. Not willing to abandon your comfort zone. Not realising that small failures are part of the deal, and what it is expected from you is a final success and not a perfect middle performance.
Therefore I have discovered that if I want to become leader at some point, I have to be ambitious with my next career steps. I have to believe in my outstanding background and my capacity to evercome to unexpected events and win challenges. And I have to break that ceiling glass that keeps me well protected inside the comfort zone and give a chance to what makes me happy and keeps me motivated at work.
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