Accidental Growth?
One does not “accidentally” grow.
If your development is occasional, reactive, or isolated, it is already costing you more than you realize.
Most executive leaders do not fail because they lack talent, intelligence, or experience. They fail because they slowly drift.
Not dramatically.
Not publicly.
Quietly.
Drift happens when growth becomes optional, sporadic, or assumed. It happens when experience replaces intentional formation, when stability masquerades as strength, and when leaders convince themselves that what carried them here will somehow carry them forward.
It will not.
Senior leadership does not forgive neglect. It exposes it.
Across the pressures, stories, and tensions explored throughout the year here on the Monday Morning Stretch, one truth kept surfacing again and again: Pressure does not create character, it reveals what our training has produced.
Moments of irritation, fear, restraint, silence, confidence, overreach, or isolation were never random. They were diagnostic.
They showed what had been strengthened and what had been ignored.
My writing consistently pointed to the same warning signs:
Leaders default under pressure.
Maturity shows up as restraint, not reaction.
Isolation accelerates blind spots.
Atrophy is rarely noticed until it becomes costly.
The most dangerous decisions often feel reasonable in the moment.
None of this happens overnight. It happens when leaders stop training deeply and start assuming durability.
Experience is a gift. It produces confidence, calm, and perspective. But experience alone does not guarantee continued growth. In fact, experience can become the very thing that hides stagnation if it is not paired with discipline.
This is why much of what is labeled as “executive development” so often falls short.
Most senior leaders do not lack access to content, insights, or tools. What they lack is a consistent rhythm of intentional development.
Development efforts fail when they are:
Episodic instead of ongoing
Siloed instead of integrated
Intellectual instead of formative
Individual instead of communal
Leaders sharpen the mind while neglecting the heart. They steward the soul while ignoring the body (or vice versa). They refine strategy while isolating themselves relationally.
Silos feel efficient. They are not. They create blind spots. They reinforce self-justification. They allow drift to go unchallenged.
You do not accidentally grow past that.
The framework that has quietly undergirded so much of this year’s writing is not new, but it is demanding:
Heart – emotional honesty, humility, self-awareness
Soul – spiritual attentiveness, submission, trust
Mind – discernment, wisdom, clarity under pressure
Strength – physical stewardship, resilience, energy, skill development
Jesus framed leadership and discipleship this way long before it became a leadership model – quoting Moses from the book of Deuteronomy:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” – Mark 12:30 NIV
This is not about balance. It is about integration. Neglect one area long enough, and it will eventually compromise the others.
Senior leaders often underestimate how physical fatigue clouds judgment, how emotional avoidance erodes trust, how spiritual neglect dulls discernment, and how intellectual stagnation limits adaptability.
No more drift means no more accidental development.
One of the most consistent undercurrents in my writing this year was this: Leaders cannot see themselves clearly in isolation.
Loneliness at the top is not just an emotional issue. It is a leadership risk.
Community introduces friction. Friction produces clarity. Trusted peers challenge assumptions, interrupt rationalizations, and expose blind spots before they become failures.
This is why deep, peer-level community matters.
Not networking. Not casual accountability. Real relationships with leaders who are willing to tell the truth and are strong enough to receive it.
Leadership formation was never meant to happen alone.
This final article of 2025 is not a summary. It is intended to be a line in the sand for us.
If your growth has been reactive, make it rhythmic.
If your development has been siloed, make it integrated.
If your leadership has been isolated, bring it back into community (Convene, Vistage, etc…).
You are strong enough to lead. The question is whether you are disciplined enough to keep training.
Drift is optional. Formation is intentional. And, of course, Every Day Is Training Day!
Choose wisely.
Let me know if I can be of any assistance in this arena. I can’t help but offer. It’s what I do.
Blessings to you, my friends!
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This Week’s Resource Recommendation:
"Spiritual Leadership: Principles of Excellence for Every Believer"
- J. Oswald Sanders
From Amazon: The need for talented, vigorous leaders … cannot be overemphasized. Such times demand active service of men and women who are guided by and devoted to Jesus Christ.
With more than 1 million copies sold, Spiritual Leadership stands as a proven classic for developing such leadership. J. Oswald Sanders, a Christian leader for nearly seventy years and author of more than forty books, presents the key principles of leadership in both the temporal and spiritual realms. He illustrates his points with examples from Scripture and biographies of eminent men of God, such as Moses, Nehemiah, the apostle Paul, David Livingstone, Charles Spurgeon, and others.
Featured topics include:
The cost of leadership
The responsibility of leadership
Tests of leadership
The qualities and criteria of leadership
The art of reproducing leaders
The one indispensable requirement of leadership
Sanders holds that even natural leadership qualities are God-given, and their true effectiveness can only be reached when they are used to the glory of God. Let this classic be your guide for leadership and watch how God works through you to do great things for His glory.
MMS 25-52
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