People often ask me how I became successful and what keeps me going. One of the biggest factors is that I’m a big believer in ongoing personal and professional growth. As Mark Miller and I wrote in Great Leaders Grow, “The path to increased influence, impact, and leadership effectiveness is paved with personal growth.… Our capacity to grow determines our capacity to lead.”
Professional growth is one of the objectives for our Blanchard Leadership Summit, coming up this October. It’s a two-day learning and networking fest our company is hosting in beautiful Dana Point, California. Participants will learn about the latest trends and solutions in our industry. This year’s Summit has three tracks, with learning sessions covering a wide range of topics from talent acquisition to engaging remote learners and lots in between.
If you want to get a feel for some of the topics we’ll be exploring at the Summit, check out our special summer webinar series—it’s free! Speakers from each of the three learning tracks will offer sneak peeks into their presentation topics. The July 24 webinar is focused on instructional design, August 15 is all about delivery best practices, and August 28 looks at strategy. You can access all three complimentary events using this link.
Another way the Blanchard Summit supports my personal and professional growth is that it allows me to connect with our wonderful clients and others in the L&D field—leaders, designers, and experts—so we can share our experiences. It’s at conferences like these that I’m able to catch up with old friends and make new ones.
At this year’s Blanchard Leadership Summit, HR and L&D professionals from some of the world’s best organizations will share peer-to-peer leadership development best practices and talk about how these practices work in the real world. I’m looking forward to hearing from this year’s client speakers, which include Erica Resnick from Amazon, Amanda Broadnax from St. Luke’s Health System, Monte Manson from CAL FIRE, James Sigismonti from Delta Dental, Kristie Raines and Kelly Ramirez from BIC Corporation, and Marilyn Allison and Nikki Larsen from Becton Dickinson.
Finally, did I mention that our keynote speakers will be New York Times bestselling author Marcus Buckingham, inclusive leadership expert Jennifer Brown, Blanchard Institute executive director Terrell Fletcher, and Blanchard CEO Scott Blanchard? It’s a great lineup! Use this link to see everyone who is speaking at the Summit website.
An Investment in Your Professional Growth
When you sign up for a conference like this, you are making the conscious choice of continuous personal and professional growth. That’s the hallmark of a great leader! To cite the model Mark Miller and I developed in Great Leaders Grow, when you grow as a leader, you:
Gain knowledge
Reach out to others
Open your world
Walk toward wisdom
The Blanchard Leadership Summit is a great place to do all the above.
Many leaders fail to flourish because they’re unwilling to take time out of their busy schedules to learn and network. They’re convinced they have too much to do and can’t fit an industry conference into their schedule.
Yet, if you want to advance as a leader, you must make a commitment to your personal and professional growth. There are always other demands clamoring for your attention. The rewards of stepping away to learn and grow are well worth the effort. As I’ve discovered over the course of my 60-year career, investing in growth opportunities like the Blanchard Leadership Summit leads not only to professional success, but to personal fulfillment as well.
To find out more, visit Blanchard Leadership Summit. I hope to see you there!
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