Personal Growth Is Your Leadership Superpower—Here’s Why

Lessons from a Legend

I had a revealing moment recently while working with a senior executive. She was explaining her approach to navigating a complex organizational change, walking me through her strategies for aligning her team behind her vision. Then, she paused and added, almost apologetically:

"You know what really helped, though? The same breathing technique I use when my teenager is pushing my buttons."

Her comment made me think. Why do we act like the skills that help us navigate our lives don’t apply to our professional challenges?

This theme came up again while discussing Belle da Costa Greene’s leadership legacy on the Boss Like Belle podcast. Greene, who led the Morgan Library through significant societal and cultural shifts in the early 1900s, was not only a builder of a lasting cultural institution—she was someone who lived by her values. She sponsored and mentored colleagues, created the work and life she wanted, modeled ethical leadership, and created community.

She had her own ways of recentering. One of her most powerful strategies was journaling. She once reflected:

"My diary is just as though it were another Belle—a comforter. I write all the things I don’t dare say... It’s amazing to see how rapidly I outgrow my feelings, to realize I’ve broadened and grown. I seem to be marching on, leaving behind what once loomed so big."

Belle Greene to Bernard Berenson, 12 September 1909

Journaling allowed Greene to process her emotions, gain perspective, and maintain self-awareness. It’s a one strategy of many I encourage leaders to try today to self-regulate and lead at their best.

Think about it. When life throws us a challenge, most of us know how we can approach it: