Tools in the Toolbox

The old saying is that if you only have a hammer in your toolbox, you approach everything like it's a nail. While you can get a lot of things done with that one tool, it's not very effective for a wide spectrum of jobs. You might be able to force it to work, but you will certainly cause a lot of collateral damage along the way.

The same holds true for leaders. We've got to develop other tools or we are only truly effective in one type of circumstance. Even if that hammer (our strength) is the best hammer anyone has ever seen, it's not going to be very helpful when the situation calls for something a little more delicate. A leader that is committed to personal growth and leading change will invest the time and energy in developing other tools. This intentional personal investment can be difficult (and sometimes painful) but the end result will be worth the commitment.