Leadership and Learning — An Essential Combination

The best and most successful leaders recognize that the learning journey never stops. They know their strengths, and look for opportunities to leverage them. They also acknowledge that there are areas where they aren’t as strong and need to continue to develop. One of the challenges for new and emerging leaders is determining what skills and behaviors — competencies — are the most important to be an effective leader today and into the future. A Google search will result in myriad lists of “top” skills for leaders. “<a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/201404/the-top-10-leadership-competencies" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">The Top 10 Leadership Competencies</a>” (Psychology Today), “<a href="https://www.ccl.org/blog/5-important-competencies-function-leaders/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">The 5 Most Important Competencies for Function Leaders</a>” (Center for Creative Leadership), “<a href="https://hbr.org/2016/03/the-most-important-leadership-competencies-according-to-leaders-around-the-world" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">The Most Important Leadership Competencies According to Leaders Around the World</a>” (Harvard Business Review). In a review of these lists, there are several core competencies that bubble to the top: strategic thinking, effective communication, a desire to develop others, decision making, creating a vision, ability to have tough conversations. And, of course, trust and integrity. THAT should be a no-brainer. As far as I’m concerned, integrity has to be at the foundation of leadership, ’cause if you don’t have that, nothing else matters! <a href="https://medium.com/@karencolligan/leadership-and-learning-an-essential-combination-66b785484047">Learn More</a>