I had a mentee a long time ago, a new people leader, and I used to tell him that there is no “recipe fits all” when we are talking about people. Individuals are unique, with different personalities, needs, and perspectives, and we people leaders, need to customize our interactions with every single person.
Then, I told my mentee to think about an imaginary book, “The People Leader Book”, every day we learn something from our people, every day we need to stretch our abilities, explore new tools and skills, and build a new chapter in our People Leader Book with all these experiences, which will serve as a collection of knowledge that will be in our mind every time we interact with new individuals, making us stronger leaders.
After a while, this mentee came back and said he was already in chapter one hundred of his book and felt much better prepared to be a people leader, but still progressing.
I am, maybe, in my ten thousand chapters, and I am still progressing, as I said, people are unique, so we have plenty of opportunities to continue growing.
by Erika Molina
