New and Improving

“That’s new and improved right there,” I said, flexing my bicep for my kids to feel it.

We joke around about this a lot, and my children have actually taken to flexing for me, and saying, “Feel that.  Is that new and improved?”  “How about mine?…”

We smile and laugh, but important assumptions (and implications for leadership) lie just beneath the surface: improvement does, in fact, happen, and there’s a way to know how much of it has happened.

For example: last year, running for 20 minutes (2 miles) was an accomplishment for me.  Yesterday, I ran for 77 minutes (over 8 miles).  That’s improvement; it’s measurable, quantifiable.

But that isn’t the point.

The point is the assumption. 

The assumption is not that I have improved, but that I am improving.

I assume it for myself, and others, and I endeavor to drive it.  And that makes the difference between measuring improvement and leading improvement.

~ by stoshdwalsh on June 15, 2009.