5 Tips to Unlock Your Next-Level Growth
“Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness is largely a matter of conscious choice and discipline.” - Jim Collins (Good to Great)
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Academic pharmacy can feel like a constant climb. One minute you're energized by a successful grant, the next you're navigating budget cuts or team conflict. In Level Up, Ryan Leak writes candidly about the forces that quietly derail us from our personal and professional growth. Chapter 3, in particular, highlights how complacency, ego, comparison, offense, and emotional highs and lows can cause us to lose our footing on the path to meaningful self-improvement.
For pharmacy faculty and academic leaders, the challenge isn’t just reaching the next goal. It’s staying grounded in the process of becoming better—not just doing more. Here’s how to stay in the climb and build resilience, growth, and perspective into your next-level journey.
1. Complacency: Don’t Let Competence Turn Into Cruise Control
Key Idea: Past success can tempt us to stop evolving.
Leak warns against letting prior achievements lull us into thinking we’ve arrived. In academia, where promotion and tenure often mark major milestones, it’s tempting to coast afterward. But the best faculty and leaders remain learners.
Try This:
Revisit your own syllabus, course design, or leadership style every semester—even if no one’s asking you to.
Ask: When was the last time I took a risk in my professional development? Am I still aligned to my WHY?
Example:
A tenured faculty member redesigns their longstanding therapeutics course using student feedback and new active learning strategies—not because they have to, but because they want to grow.
2. Ego: Trade the Need to Be Right for the Desire to Improve
Key Idea: Ego keeps us focused on reputation. Humility keeps us focused on growth.
Leak argues that leaders stuck in ego protection mode reject feedback, avoid reflection, and subtly shift from serving others to protecting status. In academia, that can show up as defensiveness, detachment, or an unwillingness to adapt.
Try This:
In meetings, be the first to say “I may be wrong, but here’s my take.”
Create channels for team or peer feedback on leadership or teaching style.
Example:
A department chair invites their faculty to give upward feedback on department culture and commits to making two visible changes based on the results.
3. Comparison: Measure Progress by Purpose, Not Position
Key Idea: Growth isn’t a race. It’s a return to your personal mission.
Leak reminds us that comparison is one of the fastest ways to feel stuck—even when we’re making meaningful progress. In academic pharmacy, it’s easy to compare institutions, funding levels, or promotion timelines.
Try This:
Define success using your own values and impact—not someone else’s CV.
Celebrate personal progress milestones that aren’t tied to title or status.
Example:
Instead of envying a colleague’s new administrative post, a faculty member reflects on the satisfaction they find in mentoring students—realigning with their true “why.”
4. Resentment: Don’t Let Disappointment Turn Into Disengagement
Key Idea: Carrying resentment quietly sabotages our motivation to improve.
Academic settings can be full of slights—missed opportunities, difficult feedback, or feeling overlooked. Leak urges readers not to let hurt turn into bitterness. The most resilient leaders turn offense into fuel for improvement.
Try This:
When criticism feels personal, pause and ask: What part of this can make me better?
Address conflict directly and respectfully to avoid lingering resentment.
Example:
After being passed over for a committee leadership role, a faculty member meets with the dean for honest feedback, uses it to grow, and volunteers to lead a future strategic initiative—reframing the experience as fuel.
5. Highs and Lows: Don’t Let Emotions Drive the Narrative
Key Idea: Peaks and valleys are part of leadership—don’t overreact to either.
Leak writes that neither praise nor pressure should define your identity. For pharmacy leaders, this means staying steady amid both criticism and applause.
Try This:
Practice gratitude journaling to stay grounded in what matters.
Debrief both successes and setbacks with a trusted colleague or mentor.
Example:
After receiving a teaching award, a faculty member resists overcommitting in response to praise. Instead, they reflect on what aligned in their teaching that semester—and how to replicate it sustainably.
Final Thoughts:
Self-improvement isn’t about being perfect. It’s about staying committed to the climb—even when it’s steep, slow, or uncertain. In academic pharmacy, it’s easy to focus on external benchmarks. But true growth happens quietly—in how we respond to feedback, resist comparison, and keep moving forward with purpose. And we don’t have to do it alone. Let’s stop chasing others and start leaning into our WHY.
Next Steps to Power Up Your Performance
The most effective leaders and faculty surround themselves with people who help them grow. Ready for the next step in your self-improvement journey? We offer professional coaching to help you achieve next-level results. I’d love to help you build clarity, consistency, and confidence—without losing yourself in the process.
Schedule a Call With Me TODAY.
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