So Columbus may not be the most-cited example of inspirational leadership, but, hey, it's his time of year and we will take the reminders of great leadership where we can get them. If you recall from elementary school, when Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492, he was not searching for the New World. He was actually looking for a better path to his goal, the Far East.
I think that too many of us want to make a better world or a new world instead of looking at what is great right now. We start imagining that amazing world and get caught up in the gap between where we are and where we want to be. Visioning and dreaming are fantastic tools for forward motion, but they aren't the only ones. What if you started with where you are? Look around. What's good about where you are? What's good about your current job? What do you currently do very well? Now, those things that are good, how can you do or have more of them? Can you do those same things in a different way or in a different context to get what you seek?
For instance, a client was positively enthralled by nonprofit work. Luckily, her company supported her efforts and she spent as much time as she could volunteering. When she got back to her own job, she was effective, but her spark wasn't there. She was not ready to hang up her current career and jump into the nonprofit world full-time, so we focused on all of the things that she loved about nonprofits (education, helping others better themselves, etc.) and looked for opportunities to bring them into her work. She took on mentoring both direct reports and others and put together brown bag lunches to help co-workers learn life skills she had made herself an expert in.
Columbus believed he could make it to his port, even through new and unknown seas. In his confidence, he stumbled onto something that changed the course of history. Sure, you might be working with a smaller scale, but who knows what surprises are awaiting the explorer in you. Happy sailing.
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