From personal development to personal empowerment

With all the hoopla over the past few months about The Secret DVD, there has been massive interest in personal development. This blog is about going beyond personal development to personal empowerment. Personal development is great. It enables you to acquire information that brings about growth in your life. Personal empowerment on the other hand is awesome because it enables you to utilize your skills to make an impact and a difference in society. The focus of personal development is on self - how you can be a better you. The focus of personal empowerment is on others - how you can use your talents to enable them to thrive in their lives.

The key to personal empowerment is engaging in personal growth with a view towards equipping others. Personal empowerment goes beyond self-actualization to people development. You have to be comfortable with getting out of your comfort zone. Most people are comfortable with developing themselves and growing for their personal ends. Few go beyond self-growth to people-growth. The truth is that true empowerment in life comes when you shift the focus from your own person to the development of others. That’s the hallmark of great leadership. Followers are great at personal development. Leaders are awesome at personal empowerment. Why? Because great leaders understand that their legacy is in developing others.

Let me provide a brief example that I hope will illustrate this better. In 2001 I was a leadership intern at the Honor Academy in Garden Valley, Texas. I arrived in Texas with a passion for personal development. I was an avid student of leadership. This resulted in my being asked to spearhead a new organization at the campus, Terra Nova, whose goal was to identify new initiatives, enhance community and cultivate a focus on the future of the Honor Academy. My responsibility as President of Terra Nova included developing my leadership council. My position gave me a title and authority but no relationship with my team. I had to build a relationship. This came through developing them as better leaders. As I focused on developing them, I became personally empowered in my leadership of the team. The quality of my personal growth was elevated since my goal wasn’t to become the best me but to enable others to become the best them. That’s personal empowerment.