I am failing at life right now. Failing.

"From this point forth, we shall be leaving the firm foundation of fact and journeying together through the murky marshes of memory the future into thickets of wildest guesswork."
—Albus Dumbledore (cross-outs and italics my own)

How many books have been written on the topic of leadership? How many lectures/workshops/presentations have you been offered to help you become a "better" leader? How many TED talks have you watched that showed you a three-point plan toward more effective leadership?

Networking. Lots of people talk about it, but what is it, where does it happen, and how do you do it effectively?

People too often associate leadership with a status to be earned, or a title that bestows power. Certainly, under some circumstances, those definitions are accurate. But I like to think of leadership differently.

Social workers use the phrase, "Be where the client is." It's meant to teach how to initially engage the client by meeting them where they are, versus telling them how and where to be.

As Director of Staff Development at the Leadership Program, I spend a lot of time both preparing and implementing training or coaching others on effective facilitation. There is no recipe or shortcut that instantaneously makes you an expert facilitator.

10 Tips for Stepping Into Your Leadership:

The role of a leader is one of great responsibility. These tips can help us fully step in with intention, dedication and courage.

"Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others."
—Jack Welch

HBR, LinkedIn, TED, Fast Company, fill-in-the-blank. We dive into so many resources looking for the recipe on effective leadership and how to build it in others. Each of us are paving our own path, making both minor and gigantic mistakes and hopefully picking ourselves back up to learn and lead again. Along the way, most of us are discovering our own recipe for effective leadership with our teams.

What's your NAA17 Convention strategy? How are you going to get the most out of your Convention experience? We asked some of our long-time NAA Convention participants to share their best Convention advice. Here is what they said: