The Leadership Legacy: How the “Way” Transforms Leaders
Leadership is a journey, not a destination! However, few leaders embark on the type of journey that fosters greatness. That journey is best described as a pilgrimage, a Leadership Pilgrimage.
A pilgrimage is a sacred journey with a purpose, one that requires vision, focus and perseverance to complete. During the pilgrimage, pilgrims share a common experience: enlightenment through solitude and sacrifice.
The Camino de Santiago is such a journey. It’s also a powerful metaphor for a Leadership Pilgrimage: a self-reflective journey leading to insights and leadership enlightenment.
This paper explores five parallels between lessons learned by the author on his Jacobian pilgrimages and his 20+ years in corporate leadership development:
1. Since classical times, when pilgrims read on Delphi’s temple walls, “Know Thyself,” pilgrims have realized that enlightenment comes through the sacrifice of the journey. The value of the Leadership Pilgrimage is learning who you are, your values, vision, strengths and weaknesses and how to leverage them to create a meaningful legacy.
2. Pilgrims travel with intense focus to a physical location and to an internal place of the heart, mind and soul! Leadership Pilgrims must also develop laser-like vision and intense drive to create and achieve their legacy.
3. Sacrifice and suffering are integral elements of a pilgrimage. So too, Leadership Pilgrims must persevere through barriers to obtain success.
4. A symbolic seashell marks the way on the Camino. Its many grooves, like the unique paths of each pilgrim, converge at one point and purpose. Leadership Pilgrims must inspire and motivate others to come together to achieve greatness.
5. Medieval pilgrims believed the Milky Way was dust formed by each pilgrim’s step, turning their journey into an eternal sign for others to follow, just as leaders must magnify their influence by creating a lasting Leadership Legacy.