The Leadership Pilgrimage - Purpose in a Leadership Pilgrim

The Leadership Pilgrimage: Purpose in a Leadership Pilgrim

Leadership is a journey.  Great leaders recognize it as a pilgrimage, because a leadership journey is very much like the dictionary definition of a pilgrimage:  “a journey in search of significance driven by core beliefs.”   

All over the world and throughout history, pilgrims have known that achieving their end goal requires great vision, focus, sacrifice and perseverance.  Perhaps the best example of this is the 1,000+ year-old Way of St. James (Camino de Santiago) in northern Spain, recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

I have had the exceptional experience of being one of an estimated 300,000 people from all over the world who complete this pilgrimage each year. Each person is drawn to complete this extraordinary trek for different reasons, but along the way each individual comes to share a common and exceptional experience: the realization that the difficult journey is worth the tremendous sacrifice because the individual traveler achieves enlightenment by seeking answers to their BIG life questions.

• What do I value most?

• What is my purpose?

• What is my role in the human story?

So, too, “Leadership Pilgrims” make a similar effort to discover the answers to their own BIG leadership questions in order to magnify their personal, team and organizational potential.

• What drives excellence?

• What is leadership?

• What is my purpose as a leader?

• Why should others follow me?

• How will I impact others?

That’s what a leadership pilgrimage is all about learning to anchor yourself to core values that will drive and motivate you to achieve more as a leader to strive for and develop a meaningful leadership legacy, to endure and thrive in times of difficulty; and to influence, motivate and inspire others to join the journey with you!