Crafting A Path Toward Mastery: Turning A Personal Leadership Development Plan Into Something Useful

In this paper the author attempts to describe an alternative approach to creating a personal plan for developing leadership ability. To get away from whatever baggage is associated "Development plans" as currently conceived, the author uses somewhat different language: crafting a path toward mastery. "Crafting" (to make by hand) is meant to suggest that there is no precise formula for engaging in this exercise. Each person is unique and must, for him or herself, craft an approach that recognizes how he/she got here, where he/she wants to go, what he/she needs to learn, and how he/she will go about learning it.