Ready for a Walk?

By John DeBoer  |  November 19th

My father-in-law came to Canada in the early 1950s. His early work included a lot of digging in canals and for new roadways. Eventually, he got into his real line of work—farming. Pop has farming in his blood. A few years back, I asked him about fertilizer for the grapes, and it became a lesson on leadership. “The best fertilizer is your boots”, he said. “You have to walk between the rows.” Walking the orchard loosens the soil for the roots so they can find nourishment. It also stresses the vines so they grow strong.

Back in September, I wrote about leaders’ greatest leadership challenges—themselves. Did you try the simple tool to assess your leadership energy (https://energyprofile.perfprog.com/free/)? Leading yourself is perhaps the scariest leadership challenge. Will I find out who I really am? Worse, will others find out who I really am? I can deny the need for self-leadership, I can convince myself there is no time, I can justify the idea that an area that needs work is not that serious, or I can ignore the idea because our real work is serving others, not myself. It is good to recognize and name such obstacles to self-leadership.

So, who is walking in your life? How are you being nourished and challenged? Where is your energy highest and where is it lowest? Where do your leadership footprints take you? And are you making the time to lead yourself for that walk? I encourage you (and me) to find weekly and monthly rhythms that can be put into play for self-leadership. This might be journaling with a devotion book, exercise, or a regularly-scheduled call with a leadership partner.

Thinking back to my father-in-law, I‘m not sure I fully appreciated being considered the best form of fertilizer. However, with that in mind, let’s walk in Jesus’ footsteps, leading ourselves while encouraging, challenging, and loving others as we go.

Ready for a walk?