The biggest mistake you can make in your career and in your life as a young leader is to try and protect yourself from failure. If you want to become who you want to be, you must be willing to fail. If you want to get hired, you must be willing to get fired. If you want to get customers, you must be willing to get rejected.

Being true to yourself as a young leader is like falling in love. You can’t fake it. You have to be vulnerable. There are no guarantees that the other person will love you back. Some people will love you back and some people will reject you. And that’s ok.

I used to think passion was enough to grow your leadership, go through life as a young leader, and succeed with your team. I was wrong, very wrong. I discovered the hard way that you need strategy. I discovered you need to learn how to lead yourself first before you can lead anyone else. I am now a Willing Student and I am on a mission to teach others what I have learned and what I am still learning.

Are you feeling frustrated and stuck at work and with your team? It could be because you are too fixated on performance. You may be ignoring the learning and growth opportunities that are in front of you. The uncomfortable things in front of you might be what you actually need to get to the next level of your leadership.

Goal setting is a common prescription most young leaders use when they’re looking to perform at a higher level and grow their careers or businesses. There is nothing evil about that. I believe goal setting is how you become who you want to be. Using goals to unlock massive growth in your career or business seems like a noble thing to do.