Are You Willing to Grow?

My 11-year-old came home from school with his first assignment of the new year which was to "Create a few goals for the year." And his list was exactly what you’d expect: 

• Finish a LEGO set.

• Get better at Fortnite.

  
  

And then one more: “I just want to keep going.”

I smiled when I read it. It felt honest. It also very familiar in that I hear some version of that answer from many of the leaders I talk with. 

At 11, “keep going” means school, friends, and routines that mostly work. There’s no need to overthink it. For leaders, the sentiment isn’t all that different.  You’ve built something that’s functioning, the team is moving, and/or the business isn’t broken.

In those moments, “just keep going” can feel like a reasonable goal. It signals gratitude for momentum and a desire not to disrupt what’s working. But there’s a quiet risk hiding inside that comfort. 

“Just keep going” describes motion, not direction. It keeps you from asking harder questions like:

• What habits am I relying on that might not serve me this year?

• Where am I the bottleneck without realizing it?

• What does better leadership actually look like for me now versus five years ago?

Most leaders don’t stagnate because they stop trying. They stagnate because they stop being intentional.

What I wanted to ask my son, and what I often want to ask leaders, is: "What do you want to get better at?" Not what you want to add or what you want to accomplish. But who you want to become in how you show up. Maybe you want to get better at delegating, or listening before reacting. Or even allowing the team struggle a little instead of rescuing them.

Those goals don’t fit neatly into a spreadsheet. But they shape everything that does.

Leaders are usually thoughtful about setting goals their teams, but few give the same time and thought about setting goals for themselves. 

Teams follow what leaders model, not what they say. If your personal goal is maintenance, your team will likely aim for comfort. If your goal is growth, even imperfect growth, it creates permission for others to stretch too.

There’s nothing wrong with appreciating what’s working. But there is something limiting about confusing stability with progress. “Just keep going” keeps things afloat. Choosing to get better changes the trajectory.

And whether you’re 11 years old or leading an organization, the question still matters:

Are you just going to keep going or are you willing to grow?