In order to understand the complexities of personal development and leadership; one needs to have some sort of a perspective to work from. Individual's whether personal or professional need to be able to understand where people are coming from; as discussions take place in meetings or in relationships, in other words - what makes that person tick. In management and/or organizational development and management, we have something called backward mapping as we set in motion timelines in the planning phases of a program goal attainment. Backward mapping is useful to ultimately find your way around toward timeline goal setting.

Let's take a look at some backward mapping in the in the area of organizational human interaction. From my professional assessment the personal development aspects of a person ought to be in the forefront of personal character building. In certain careers the concept of personal behavior development would probably come first; as that particular career entails the need for sensitivity of understanding people and people's feelings, thoughts and/or concerns. However, in other arenas relationship sensitivity quite honest could be counterproductive. Why you might ask? Because in professional or even personal situations personal development might be a detriment; because it could impede on the growth of others or it could impede on the overall goals of an organization.

If one takes a look at history and reviews great figures in leadership position or displayed an enormous level of leadership; one could find out that some were great leaders with very little personal development to the personal characteristics of their demeanor. Many accomplished and high profile productive leaders whom performed at extraordinary levels were actually quite introverted. One that comes to mind was Howard Hughes a brilliant man, who was a true pioneer and leader in the field of aviation, movie industry and conglomerate business development was very much a loner. Yes, he interacted with many during his days and yes he was married numerous times but to many he was a complex individual with a sort of shy, quite and a bit of an introvert; he was hard to get to know. This is a great example of a strong leader with very little personal development substance.

A great friend of mind once told me there is a great price to pay for success and Mark Twain once said " the only place where success come before work is in the dictionary"; in other words be prepared to work hard if you want to reach success. My point is; to many leadership comes before personal development. In my view however, it just makes plain pure sense to me that personal development ought to come first. By having ones personal development world in order; then one is in a better position to help others; while living in contentment as a leader.

Do you want to discover the secret to explosive Personal and Leadership Development? Download my free guide here: Personal and Leadership Development. Dr. Richard C. Baiz is a College and Corporate Personal/Leadership Development Instructor and Coach and gets his clients top notch successful results fast.