…I think the effectiveness in being a good collaborator is becoming increasingly important, the ability to work within complex systems where there are multiple stakeholders who have distinct but overlapping interests around a common concern and being effective at being able to weave those together into a solution respectful of the needs of all those different parts.
 
…I’d look at one of the struggles of leadership as avoiding the natural narrowing of your sense of the possibilities because you’ve become conditioned to the things with which you’re most familiar. So fighting against that, doing things to provoke your curiosity, interacting with other people, getting outside of your level of comfort, doing things that are provocative and helping you stay fresh and curious and open to possibilities.
 
…the first step I think is people really need to know themselves and it’s amazing to me how frequently people don’t really have an honest sense of what it is they’re good at, what kind of work they love to do, what their strengths are, areas where they need development. I think that people often times have an aspiration that’s inconsistent with the things that necessarily bring them joy or that they are well equipped to do, and it’s typically driven by a traditional sense of here’s the logical progression.
 
…So what I have done in working with folks that I mentor is really ask them to do a significant amount of self examination and examination with others to hold the mirror up to them so they can get a good sense of what truly brings them joy. That is to me first and most important, because I see a lot of folks pursuing paths that ultimately, I don’t think are necessarily going to bring them what they’re looking for, but they’re pursuing them because it’s what everyone presumes is the conventional progression in their career. -Bob Porter (2 min.1 sec.)