On 12th April 2025, I embarked on a new journey to grow myself and build my capacity as a leader – I joined Lead well class of 2025. Lead well is an organization that is focused on empowering kingdom leaders for sustainable growth and impact. I first read the brochure that my pastor and friend sent to me and I was instantly hooked. It read, “do you have a desire to expand the impact of your organization and your influence as a leader?” My instant answer was yes, I mean who wouldn’t want to become better at who they are and what they do? So, I followed the instructions, made the necessary payments and I was ready for the big day. However, there was a small challenge, I needed to be in class on a Saturday morning at 7am in the morning! 😣 I kept wondering if I was going to be able to get there on time, but I knew I had to adjust a few things here and there and I would be okay.
My alarm rings at 5:15am on Saturday morning and truth be told I was kinda excited for this whole new experience and after preparing myself, I left our home in Kitengela at 6:20am and I knew I was on time. Shock on me, when I hit the road, Io and behold, I am not the only person who got to wake up early on Saturday morning, the roads are jam packed and I figured I would be late! So, I added my driving speed and I was in the church compound at exactly 7:05am.
I wasn’t sure who I was going to meet in this class, but I was so excited when I saw some familiar faces, some of whom I had not seen in so many years! My excitement to learn coupled with meeting people I hadn’t seen in many years only made my first day experience easier and better.
The training started with an introduction of what the leadership experience is all about followed up with what is expected from us as the students and let me tell you, it’s going to be an amazing 12months experience that will build my capacity and take me out of my comfort zone. Basically, we are going to be meeting once a month from 7am-12:30pm which comes to 12 class sessions. From this leadership experience, I am supposed to come up with my own personal transformation project (PTP) and publish a book that will basically be derived from my weekly journal. On top of that I am required to read at least 4 books in 12 months and do book reviews, but the highlight for me is, we are also required to read through the whole Bible in one year! Challenge accepted I am all in!! 😀 The two must read books for all of us are, “The Purpose Driven Life,” by Rick Warren and “Seed It Out-How Great Leaders Become Great Leader Makers,” by Rev. Oscar Amisi. The other two books am thinking of reading are, Principle Centered Leadership by Stephen R. Covey and Leader Shift by John C. Maxwell.
We started the lessons with “The Leadership Advantage,” which is the ‘Art of Self Leadership.’ Leading others cannot be possible if we cannot lead ourselves – leadership starts with me. Our facilitator posed a question, “who is the most difficult person you have ever encountered? In my head I was like, ‘only one person?’ because I had met many difficult people over the years. But I didn’t write the name of anyone, because I had learnt that the most difficult person, I had ever encountered was myself! Crazy right? Why might you ask? It’s because we never see ourselves as the ones on the wrong, but the other party, leading to justifying our wrongs or never correcting our areas of weakness.
Our facilitator also taught us on the iceberg analogy where 10% that is usually seen (above the water) represents our gifts/talents/skill, while the 90% that lies beneath the surface represents our true character and persona – the real you! Truth be told majority of people are paying attention to the 10% that everyone sees while neglecting the most important aspect of our character which represents 90% of who we are. On this journey of becoming a better leader and leading ourselves first, we tackled 3 amazing topics on self: –
- Self-awareness
- Self-alignment
- Self-discipline
When we become self-aware of who we are, what our strengths are and our areas of weakness, we can know where we need to change by ourselves, and where we need help from an accountability partner or others. Basically, self-awareness increases our inner antennas!
I must admit my first day in class was amazing, learning new things, unlearning what I thought and perceived was right, and it’s a journey that I have embarked on to build myself and become a better human and leader. It’s also a journey as I mentioned earlier that will get me out of my comfort zone, because apart from the journaling, I am also supposed (together with my classmates as well) to do blogging and vlogging! Now, blogging is my zone, I have no problem with that, but vlogging – what? This will be a new venture and I can see myself doing take 10 until I get it right! But yo, it’s gotta be done and frankly speaking I am excited to see what I can do – so help me God!
This was my day 1 and it was perfect! Until next time, see you soon!
#leadwell
Cynthia Gitonga Blog 