Personal Development for the Confused

Do you think that personal development is an integral part of being a leader?

Hmmm ...

Well, it probably depends on what personal development means. Personally, :-) I think there's some confusion about this.

Would you, for example, expect that your boss should be more personally developed than you because he is further up the company ladder? What would that mean in terms of his behaviour?

How about the CEO? Or even the President / Prime Minister of your country? From a personal development perspective, how comfortable do you feel about them being your leaders? What would it mean for the company or the country if they were more personally developed?

If Bill Gates is the richest person in the world, is he also the most personally developed?

Perhaps we could ask Anthony Robbins or Steve Pavlina for their opinons? Lots of people do. There's a whole industry around personal development.

It can be difficult to talk properly about some things in these politically correct and sensitive times, but how do we decide if someone is personally developed or not? In comparison to ... what or whom?

That's part of the confusion, I think. What's often called personal development might be better termed personal accomplishment, or even expert accomplishment.

A balance of both is good. Be accomplished and be a person.

What about your employees? How's their personal development?

'Who cares!', some might answer, 'as long as they do their jobs!'.

Which attitude probably part explains any problems you might be having in that regard...
in the opinion of someone who has quite a way to go with his own personal development.