The purpose of this book is to give you an enhanced understanding and appreciation of your experience and to provide you with the skills to learn from it and to put those lessons into practice. When we talk about rediscovering your past, seizing your present, and shaping your future, let's be clear about what we're not talking about. With regard to your past, we're not asking you to engage in psychoanalysis or nostalgia. When we talk about the future, we aren't asking you to imagine jetpacks or 3D food printers. And when we talk about the present, we are not talking meditation or daydreaming (although there's nothing wrong with either).

Instead, we're asking you to invest mental and behavioral energy into each of these realms of experience. And we are providing you with specific mindsets, skillsets, and toolsets to maximize your past, present, and future experiences. To avoid getting “stuck” in any of these moments in time, it's best to keep your mental and behavioral energy moving in a fluid and nimble manner, circulating among past, present, and future, pausing briefly when necessary but always focusing on what you need most to lead effectively.

Imagine this flow of energy moving along a continuum that looks something like this.

You won't develop the capability to manage that energy overnight. It will seem mechanical at first, and you will need to develop certain skills before you can apply your energy effectively in each of the three areas. But gradually, steadily, you can transform that energy into a reliable, learned set of mental and behavioral practices. As you develop your skillset, the corresponding benefits of experience-driven leadership will become all the more evident.

Now we'll look at rediscovering your past, seizing your present, and shaping your future in the context of the Fundamental Four and the related subskills introduced in Chapter 2. The following graphic provides an overview:

REDISCOVER YOUR PAST

As American novelist and Nobel Prize winner William Faulkner wrote, “The past is never dead. It's not even past.” He's right. The past never really goes away. That may seem unsettling at first, but it's actually a good thing. When you're familiar and engaged with your past and approach it with the right mindset and techniques to understand it, it can reveal any number of things to help inform and drive your journey as a leader. These include triumphs that teach you what you're capable of and mistakes that remind you to avoid certain actions and decisions in the future. Or perhaps your past can bring insights that help you better understand others and how, as a leader, to get the best out of them.

Section II introduces you to a trio of skills that take you beneath the surface of your past experiences so you can appreciate them in a deeper and more vivid manner. Doing so will stimulate the natural interplay between the past and the present. Your understanding and acceptance of your past will also help guide you forward to the experiences that will continue to challenge you and help you grow as a leader.

SEIZE YOUR PRESENT

Are you familiar with the Latin phrase carpe diem? It means “seize the day.” But to do that, and do so repeatedly, requires more than a passionate zeal to tackle the challenges you face—it takes skills.

Section III highlights a variety of skills from across the Fundamental Four that help you clearly grasp what's going on around you (even when it appears confusing at first). These skills help you to address present challenges by leveraging your past, to achieve understanding with others, and to understand your place in the organizational maze and how to navigate it.

SHAPE YOUR FUTURE

Thoughts about the future can provoke anxiety. This is a healthy response because it helps keep us prepared and protected from overconfidence. But our vision of the future should also inspire excitement, hope, and a resolve to tackle the challenges ahead. Although there are many more factors at work in the universe than we could ever use to control our future, we can endeavor to shape it.

Section IV breaks down six sought-after leadership skills that help put more of your future in your hands. A common theme is being proactive by stimulating and shaping others' perceptions of your leadership. This helps you create the conditions that lead to direction, alignment, and commitment.

As you put the experience-driven leadership model to work, you don't need to tackle each section in order. Feel free to go where your interests or needs direct you. To help raise your awareness of those needs and assist you in prioritizing your efforts, here is a brief set of questions to consider: