Being thrust into a leadership position can feel like drinking from a full-throttle firehose! However, there is a way to turn the pressure down, and that comes through studying and learning well. Practicing that discipline allows the leader to transform his or her leadership style, cultivate purpose, become more authentic, and bring life into an individual or an organization.

The Shadow only wants you to see the never-ending pain before you, but the truth, however, is the same. After some time and some post-traumatic growth, we both can say, "Glad that light at the end of the tunnel wasn't a train!"

At the end of one's leadership journey, this question remains: Did you leave behind an apocalyptic landscape littered with piles of broken people, or did you create a garden filled with elegant, redeemed human beings?