How & from whom did you learn about Leadership? And similarly, how & from whom did you learn about creating & maintaining Highly Productive Teams? Most of us never learn an official 'model.' We soak up what we can from our early role models, and then from whatever media we consume. So we end up with a patchwork quilt or homegrown composite. As an engineer, I used to be fascinated by how things work, and how you make things. Now, I want to know everything I can about how People work. And how you make leaders and teams. Having mental models in these areas is crucial unless we are content to swing around in the dark, hoping. Far too many people "wing it" in these crucial domains, creating huge amount of suffering and lost potential around them. The research is clear that we perform our best when we build a great team around us, and enroll skilled and caring (but still challenging) leaders at the helm. When these are in sync, organizations create the highest levels of engagement, retention, productivity and innovation. I've co-created teams like this to win national championships in sport, transform profoundly on weekend retreats, and excel in day to day work. If you want to achieve your best - first figure out clearly what "good" looks like, then calibrate yourself to that with a measurable baseline. From there, you will have a clear path forward outlining along what dimensions you need to develop. Knowing your Talents & Strengths is part of the equation, so to share mine, here are my top 10 Strengths: Ideation, Empathy, Achiever, WOO, Learner, Restorative, Positivity, Relator, Strategic, ConnectednessIn early 2018, I completed certification for the Emotional Intelligence EQI2.0 assessment, attended in person training in ITC; in 2020 got fully certified in the Leadership Circle Profile 360 assessment and attended the Growth Edge Coaching and became a certified Squadify Pro for teamwork; in 2023 I trained in the Transformational Paradigm Shift model. Let me know if you want to experience any of these frameworks and I'd be happy to connect. As Kegan & Lahey said in their landmark work, The Immunity to Change, "In the world of L&D, there's been too much focus on L, and not enough on D [Development]" Let's do more transformation and less transmission. Filling up someone's cup isn't the same as expanding the volume it's capable of holding.Jung had a similar idea when he said "Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate."It's time to take the reins and become the leader of your own life.