• Effective leaders continue to develop their repertoire of skills throughout their careers. Most leaders begin their careers with clear strengths that they bring to their work. These strengths vary from leader to leader; possibilities include ease at building productive relationships, the ability to synthesize and create order out of a large amount of information, and resiliency in the face of adversity. But to be effective in a wide variety of leadership roles and situations, individuals have to master new skills and develop proficiency in additional arenas. Instead of always relying on a limited set of natural capabilities, they have to become more well-rounded. This development of a repertoire of skills is a gradual, continuous process—although there may be periods when leaders experience a sense of more rapid learning. It is also important to remember that no single leader becomes adept at all the myriad skills that can be applied to leadership work. The important point is that effective leaders—whatever their beginning base of strength—work to broaden their repertoire.

• A significant part of this development occurs through practical experiences. Effective leaders who have been on this journey report work and life experiences as a rich source of their ongoing learning and growth. This is consistent with what we know about adult learning. Adults learn when their day-to-day responsibilities and challenges require it—and when they have the opportunity to engage in experiences, draw lessons and insights from those experiences, and apply this new knowledge and skills to the next experience. Leaders also learn from formal training and development activities and through their relationships, but “learning by doing” is a central process in leader development.

• The more varied the practical experiences, the greater the likelihood of developing a broad repertoire of skills. Leaders who continue to focus only on doing the work that they are already good at are less likely to broaden their leadership capacity. Leaders who step into new situations and face challenges that call for untested abilities continue to develop their capacity and successfully take on higher levels of leadership responsibility. Certainly, these leaders apply their strengths to their “stretch” experiences, but they also are aware that these experiences ignite their “growing edge,” where deeper knowledge is discovered and new capabilities are honed.