Growth Doesn’t Happen When You’re Comfortable

You don’t get better at sports by playing people you can already beat, and you don’t grow as a leader by staying in rooms where you’re always comfortable. Some of the most important turning points in my life came from being challenged by people who were smarter than me, realizing I still had blind spots, and hearing perspectives I didn’t expect. In fact, I spent most of my career telling people who worked for me that they didn’t need a college degree as long as they could sell. But my opinion changed once I went through Leadership Tennessee, and I ended up going back to college. In this episode, Dr. Alfred Degrafinreid of Leadership Tennessee and I explore: How the whole state improves when leaders stop trying to be the smartest person in the room Why Leadership Tennessee doesn’t actually teach leadership (because everyone who gets in already is one) How traveling across the state exposes blind spots that don’t show up in boardrooms What happens when growth gets concentrated in one place instead of spread across the state Have a Tennessee story worth mapping out? Reach out at archabouttn.com