How we approach leadership is how we approach life. We can lock ourselves into the false sense of security that says “I know what I know and I know best” or we can open our minds, and open our hearts, to more. There is a bit of vulnerability, a bit of risk in opening ourselves. There is anxiety and perhaps even fear at the thought that we might expose something “less than perfect” but to fully lead is to be willing to embrace growth and, in that way, enhance understanding—of ourselves and of others.

Early in my career I had a supervisor who said something very profound to me. He told me that, when he was new in his career, he would not hire anyone who was “smarter or better looking” than he was. Of course, he was being flippant but the second part was the real message. He learned, he went on, “that good people only reflect well on you.” I took those words to heart and have repeated them many times in many settings. What I see them as now is that everyone has the potential of being a source of light and that light can reflect on you, as a leader if you allow yourself to see it.

Leadership can be a journey of self discovery and growth, a journey in which we share our light and help to kindle the light in others. In doing so, we grow our skills, we build our power and we learn to live, and to lead, with a full heart.