“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”  This was said by the famous artist Picasso.  Picasso had his own style throughout his life and pushed the boundaries in many ways about how his art showed up.  So many times his art showed his personal beliefs, specifically his painting Guernica, which portrayed the aftermath of a Nazi bombing in the town of Guernica, in Basque.  The screaming figures in the painting include a terrified horse and a mother cradling a limp child in her arms.

If you take Picasso’s quote you can reword it to fit leadership… “Learn the rules of leadership so you can reform them like an artist”.   What does this mean?  Leadership has all kinds of best practices or rules, but until you can take these ‘rules’ and reword, or reform, them into something that fits your style you will just be following the rules blindly.  To become the unique leader that you are, you must reform the rules to fit your style and your personal beliefs.  As a leader, our beliefs should be centered on what makes others, as well as ourselves, successful, but how those beliefs show up depends on our unique selves.   Give some thought to how YOU might take the rules of leadership and reform them like an artist.