Blog 20: Becoming, Not Arriving – On Doing and Being
Becoming, Not Arriving: Why Leadership Is About the Journey
Leadership isn’t about titles or arrival—it’s about becoming. Discover how presence, resilience, and reflection transform leaders on the path.
Becoming, Not Arriving
In June, I walked 65 miles over four days with two longtime friends on the Kansas Camino pilgrimage for Fr. Emil Kapaun, a Korean War Medal of Honor recipient.
That’s:
155,000 steps
21.5 hours of walking
Miles filled with conversation, silence, joy, and pain
And all of it was sacred.
That journey reminded me: you don’t walk a pilgrimage to reach the destination. You walk to be changed along the way.
The Most Important Step
As I walked, I kept returning to a line from Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings:
“If the journey itself is indeed the most important piece, then I traveled not to avoid duty, but to seek it.” — Nohadon
It brought me full circle to something I shared earlier this month: The most important step a leader can take is the next one.
Not the easy one. Not the first one. The one you take when you’re tired, uncertain, or doubting. That’s the step that transforms you.
This is leadership. It’s not linear. It’s not clean. It’s not about titles or arrival.
It’s about becoming.
Doing vs. Being
Every footstep on that trail reinforced what SemitaCor stands for: Movement. Growth. Resilience.
Life is a journey, not a destination.
We are called to the path.
The path is the lesson, and the lesson is the path.
I’ve spent most of my life doing. Give me a challenge, a team, a mission—I’m all in. But it took years (and 155,000 steps) to realize the deepest growth doesn’t come from doing more.
It comes from:
Being present
Being still
Being open
A mentor once told me: “You can’t lead others to someone you don’t know.” She was pointing toward something greater, but the same wisdom applies to knowing yourself.
The Stillness That Grounds Leaders
On the Camino, there were long stretches of silence. Just footfalls, breath, and breeze. No meetings. No planning. Just presence.
That stillness reminded me: experienced leadership isn’t just about activity. It’s about alignment. Staying grounded in who you are, even as demands grow.
Realignment doesn’t require reinvention. Just a willingness to reflect—and tools that help you listen better to what’s already true.
The Invitation for Leaders
For leaders who’ve achieved success but wonder if there’s more, the invitation is clear:
Stop doing long enough to start becoming.
Because in stillness, we don’t lose our edge. We rediscover our center.
Your Turn
Who are you becoming?
At SemitaCor, we walk alongside leaders as they move from doing to becoming—with tools, reflection, and insight that sustain growth.
