Employee: “Mike, you aren’t going to be able to attend your peer group this month.”

Mike: “What? Why?”

Employee: “Your flight doesn’t land until after the peer group.”

Mike: “Let’s call and reschedule the flight to get in late the night before.”

Employee: “But you told me not to schedule you for late flights.”

Mike: “You are right. But the peer group is worth the late fight.”

I attend a peer group called Allied Executives that meets monthly with other leaders in our community. It would have been easy for me to say that I couldn’t make it this month because of a scheduling conflict. But I so value the time I have with these other leaders that I make it a point to rearrange my schedule to make it work.

A peer group is one of the ways I have accelerated my personal growth. Below are a few other tips for growing as a leader.

Mentorship

I read something recently that said most of the top leaders had mentors in life. Strong mentors are key because it accelerates your growth as a person. You can learn through your own failures or you can learn faster through the failures others have experienced.

I’m only in the position I am today because of the great leaders and mentors who have helped me become the person I am today. But it’s stronger than that. Our company is in a much better place today because of what others were willing to share with us to improve.

The best ways to obtain an excellent mentor is simply to ask them. I recommend going to events to meet great people. When you find someone excellent, ask them if they would be willing to mentor you. Not everyone will say yes, but many will. I’ve found many fantastic mentors over the years by doing this.

Networking & Events

I have been personally putting more time than ever into networking and events. I’m doing this because it’s helping my personal growth tremendously. For example, I went to an event recently where I got to see someone that I look up to. He is a CEO of a much larger apartment management company. Despite their size, they have done a fantastic job building an admirable company. I hope to learn as much as I can from them.

The magic about events is the little things. It’s in the small conversations you have with others. It’s the neat people that you meet. It’s feeling inspired by the people around you. It’s building friendships with people who share similar passions. Those little things add up to a strong network and that network will help propel you forward.

Lifelong Learner

Be a lifelong learner. Stay humble and learn from as many smart people as you can. Because learning from these incredible people will accelerate your growth faster than most anything else.

I read a couple dozen books a year. I watch educational videos almost every night. Often I do that instead of watching TV shows. Many of the educational videos on YouTube are fun to watch and I feel like I’ve learned something useful.

As mentioned earlier, I recommend going to events. If it’s a conference, I’m always taking careful notes. I don’t write down everything the speaker says. I write down actionable points. Then when I return home I review those points and add it to a master list. That master list started as a computer document. I organized all of the points into different categories. But here is the key: When I’m working on a particular part of my life or company, I go back and refer to the appropriate category. That way I am able to remember the important points at the moment that I’m making the improvement. The document got to be so large that I have now started my own private Wikipedia site to store and organize the information.

Be a Part of an Online Community

As mentioned, going to events is a great way to meet and interact with people. I will be doing a few online events. If you want to learn more about upcoming events, consider subscribing to my newsletter by visiting the following link: https://mailchi.mp/add7f6bb7048/n