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What if the best way to grow as a leader isn't to learn more, but to simply start putting into practice what you already know? Leaders often invest significant time in reading, studying, and preparing. But at some point, growth requires action—even when we don't feel completely ready. In this episode, Global Leadership Network President and CEO David Ashcraft joins Whitney Putnam to explore how curiosity and hands-on experience help leaders continually improve. David shares how studying successful organizations helped him grow as a leader, why learning doesn't look the same for everyone, and how taking action often reveals what we most need to learn next. This episode will help you discover practical ways to learn from leaders who are ahead of you, expand your team's vision, and overcome the perfectionism that can keep good ideas from becoming reality. Because sometimes the best way to become a better leader is to start leading.
IN THIS EPISODE:
02:26 Rethinking What It Means to Be a Lifelong Learner
05:27 Learning from Leaders and Organizations Ahead of You
10:23 Expanding Your Team's Vision Through Experience
12:17 Developing Yourself by Studying Other Leaders
13:00 Discovering Your Own Curiosity Style
15:51 The Difference Between Nice-to-Know and Need-to-Know
18:24 Why Taking Action Creates Curiosity
19:03 Learning from Imperfect Attempts
20:51 Pursuing Excellence Without Perfectionism
21:26 Outro and Takeaways
WHY THIS CONVERSATION MATTERS:
Leadership development isn't just about acquiring more knowledge. It's about applying what we learn, discovering what works, and adjusting when things don't go as planned. David challenges leaders to move beyond preparation and recognize that meaningful learning often happens in the middle of doing. Curiosity becomes more than a mindset—it's a practical tool for identifying what we need to learn next and becoming more effective leaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Start before you feel completely ready. Taking action often reveals what you need to learn next.
- Learn from experience, not just information. Put new ideas into practice and use the results to guide your growth.
- Study organizations a few steps ahead of yours. Look for leaders and organizations operating at roughly two or three times your current size.
- Find your own curiosity style. Reading is valuable, but observation, conversations, questions, and firsthand experience are also powerful ways to learn.
- Help your team see what's possible. Experiencing another organization's success can expand people's vision beyond what they can currently imagine.
- Adapt rather than imitate. Evaluate what others do well and determine what fits your own context.
- Let real challenges shape your learning. Focus on what you need to know to lead effectively right now.
- Don't confuse excellence with perfection. Do the best you can with your current resources and knowledge, then keep improving.
WHO THIS EPISODE WILL HELP:
- Leaders who feel stuck in preparation: Those who continually gather information but struggle to translate learning into action.
- Pastors and organizational leaders navigating growth: Those looking for practical ways to learn from organizations further along in their development.
- Leaders responsible for developing others: Those seeking ways to connect leadership training with hands-on experience and real-world challenges.
- Emerging leaders: Those who hesitate to take responsibility because they don't feel sufficiently prepared.
- Leaders wrestling with perfectionism: Those who want to pursue excellence without allowing unrealistic expectations to prevent progress.
STANDOUT IDEAS:
- "I think the best way to learn is be doing it."
- "At some point, it's good enough that you need to go and start doing it."
- "And if you wait till you've perfected it, you'll never do anything."
- "And so what I just found very quickly is the best way to cast vision is take them someplace else, let them see what I'm talking about."
- "Strategy without execution is just theory."
LINKS MENTIONED:
GLN: Year-round Leadership Tools
2027 Global Leadership Summit
LISTEN:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube
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