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. It requires vision, focus, and perseverance to complete. During the pilgrimage, pilgrims share the common experience of enlightenment through solitude and sacrifice.
The Camino de Santiago, or the Way of St. James, offers a powerful metaphor for a leadership pilgrimage: a self-reflective journey leading to insights and leadership enlightenment.
I believe that there are five parallels among lessons I have learned while walking the Way of St. James and my more than 20 years in corporate leadership development:
1. Since classical times, when pilgrims read “Know Thyself” on Delphi’s temple walls, they realized that enlightenment comes through the sacrifice of the journey. The value of the leadership pilgrimage is learning who you are—your values, your vision, your strengths, and your weaknesses—as well as how to leverage them to create a meaningful legacy.
2. Pilgrims travel with intense focus to a physical location on a map 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 reach 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 steps, turning their journey into an eternal sign for others to follow. Similarly, leaders must magnify their influence by creating a lasting legacy.
To learn more about how to make your own pilgrimage and leave a lasting leadership legacy, join me May 17–20, 2020, in Denver, Colorado, for the ATD 2020 International Conference & EXPO.
