A New Year's Challenge for Your Leadership Growth. I dare you to...

Hey leaders, I got one for ya. I challenge every leader reading this right now to take this personal growth challenge in 2011. I call it a "Thinker Saturation."

Here's what it is:

When you find an author, leader or communicator that you admire in some area (finance, leadership, marketing, team-building, etc.) make a decision to "saturate" yourself in how they think for 3 months.
For an entire quarter of your year, dunk yourself in everything that leader writes, says, blogs, records, or tweets.

This information is so easily available on the internet and costs next to nothing to acquire.

Over time, you'll start to pick up on themes in how they think, how they make decisions, etc. You'll also pick up themes of how you listen to them.

A Real-Time Illustration:

I did this recently with Author and Thought-Leader, Seth Godin. (SethGodin.com) For several years now, I've really admired the thoughts & writings of Seth Godin. Seth is what I consider to be the premiere mind in the marketing world today. Brilliant.

So, for 3 months, I decided to saturate myself in how Seth thinks. I did a google search for "Free Seth Godin Audio" and then spent an hour downloading every podcast and interview I could find, putting them in a file on my iTunes that sync's to my iPod.

Then, for the next 90 days, whenever I would work out, or was in the car, I listened to those audios. I'll end up listening to each one 2 or 3 times. Sure, it is redundant, but repetition is a phenomenal teacher.

In addition to listening to Seth, I subscribed to his blog and read or re-read several of his key books. After 90 days, here's what I learned:

1.  How Seth processes information for decision making.

2.  How Seth sees ideas everywhere.

3.  Seth Godin is Courageous. The main reason I love Seth Godin is because he is courageous. He breaks all the rules & succeeds at it very well! I need more influencers in my life who do that!

Now It's Your Turn:

So, here's the challenge... pick 4 thought-leaders and saturate yourself in each one for 90 days next year. I'll even give you the homework for the first one (if you want to use Seth Godin) click here. That's all the audios I downloaded in an hour.

Imagine what your personal leadership growth could look like a year from today if you saturated yourself in 4 premiere thought leaders this year.

I dare you to take the challenge. It could be the most valuable decision you make this year.

Excuse me sir, Would you like to be my Mentor?

I am a huge advocate of having mentors. I have been blessed to have some incredible mentors through the years. I know I wouldn't be who I am and where I am today without the mentors who have poured into me over the years.

Here are a few thoughts on the whole Mentor Concept:

1. Mentor somebody.

I am a firm believer that we all have something to offer somebody else. Get over any feelings of inadequacy you might have, because somebody needs what you have learned.

2. Find a Mentor for every area of your life.

For me, if there's an area of my life that I want to grow in, I enlist a mentor. Here's how:
1) Pray for God to bring that person across your path.
2) Start looking for them.
3) Start collecting questions.
4) When you find them, go boldly & humbly in their direction.

3. Don't neglect "Virtual" Mentors.

Over the years, I have been mentored by some amazing leaders that I've never met simply by reading their books or listening to their talks. Today, with the free content of the internet, it's easier than ever. I literally downloaded over 12 hours of talks by Seth Godin in 1 night that I've been listening to & learning from for the last few months.

4. Become an expert Question-Asker.

The way to mine out the wisdom of a mentor is by learning the art of asking good questions. Good questions can unlock the depths of experience like nothing else can. Here's a little tip when preparing questions in advance for a meeting with a mentor... Make a list of a ridiculous number of questions. For example, come up with 87 questions for a 60 minute meeting. If you do, you'll discover the best 8 or 10 questions that will allow you to learn the most during your time.

The right mentor at the right time in your life can literally be life-changing. Finding one and being one is essential to your success.