Self Discovery

Invest in self-discovery. It will help you envision a better tomorrow and blaze a path to achieve what you truly desire.

How much time do you invest in yourself?  Do you actually make it a priority to evaluate:

  • What makes you happy?
  • What could change to help you achieve that goal?
  • What are the obstacles that are getting in the way?
  • What’s missing from your life and your career?
  • How has your past influenced this?
  • Do you regret any past decisions that you’ve made? If yes, what have you learned from them?
  • Have any past decisions helped you move closer to your goal?  How and why?
  • What makes you anxious?
  • What makes you relax and feel content and comfortable?
  • What inspires you to do more and expand your comfort zone?
  • What makes you feel valued?
  • What’s needed to grow your career?
  • What actions need to occur to address development opportunities?

The Collins Dictionary defines self-discovery as:
becoming aware of one’s true potential, character, motives, etc.

The Merriman-Webster Dictionary defines it as:
the act or process of achieving self-knowledge.

Growing self-knowledge requires energy, courage, honesty, and commitment. It also requires addressing the “why” behind our thoughts, words, actions, behaviors, and emotions. This can be difficult and challenging for many of us but is essential if we want to realize our full potential.

Musician Kevin Abstract says that “self-discovery is an ongoing thing”. We agree! It’s not a point in time situation, but a particular event may be what gets us started. We always say learning is to be continual and that leadership (like learning) is a process, not an event. That’s why we call many of our programs “Journeys” – they are roadmaps that have no end!

As leaders we generally help others with self-discovery but don’t do the same for us. Why is that? It’s time we “blaze a path to achieve what we truly desire”.  In the words of Nike: “Just Do It”!

And you? When will you begin that long journey into yourself?
― Rumi

Leadership and Humility

One of the best ways (to be humble) is to adopt the humble mind-set of a servant leader. Servant leaders view their key role as serving employees as they explore and grow, providing tangible and emotional support as they do so.
–Dan Cable

Last week we shared some traits our clients wanted to see their leaders exhibit and one of them was the ability to be humble. Did this strike a chord with you? We’ve talked about servant leadership in the past and part of the common theme of definitions includes the need to be humble.

A post by Rebecca shares 21 attributes of a humble person.  We’ll highlight a few; to read her entire list and article click here. Humble people:

They do not belittle others
Quite the opposite – leaders make others feel important

They are not rude
Leaders are respectful, they listen, and are mindful of the
needs of others

They are truthful
Leaders live life with integrity and no hidden agendas

They will put themselves in someone else’s shoes
Leaders seek to understand

They are not self-righteous
Leaders do not have a superiority complex

They are not judgmental
Leaders do not form opinions without obtaining facts

They are not arrogant
Leaders do not portray a sense of self-importance

They will not dwell on the past
Leaders do not let negative “baggage” hinder their decisions

They will not get defensive
Leaders are accepting of feedback and suggestions for
change/improvement

  • As a leader, how would you score yourself in the above categories?
  • What about how you would score your leader?
  • What category would you like to personally or professionally develop? Don’t forget to add them to your development plan!

Servant-leaders have the humility, courage, and insight to admit that they can benefit from the expertise of others who have less power than them.
—Dan Cable

What Do You Want In A Leader?

Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to high sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.
—Peter Drucker

Have you given much thought about the type of leader you want to work for?  What skills and behaviors matter most and inspire you to thrive and perform at your highest level?  Another way to look at it is to assess the type of leader you don’t want to work for. That may be easier!

Over the years we’ve listened to what our clients have shared but we’ve never taken a formal poll.  Here are some of the more common wants that we heard:

  • Inspirational
  • Humble
  • Builds trust
  • Sets and leads towards a vision
  • Caring and passionate
  • A desire to develop others
  • A good listener
  • Provides meaningful feedback
  • No hidden agendas

Steven J. Stowell, Ph.D. and Stephanie S. Mead, MBA did conduct a survey from 2100+ individuals and asked for the top three qualities they wanted in their leaders. The results were:

  • Communication skills (45.2%)
  • Interpersonal skills (44.2%)
  • Values and ethics (41.9%)
  • Personal attributes (30.2%)
  • Coaching and feedback (21.8%)
  • Credibility (22.3%)
  • Direction and strategy (16.7%)
  • Management essentials (5.6%)

Did you find any of the poll results surprising? Soft-skills and people skills seem to be the prevailing “want”. Were there any key omissions from your list, and do you think technical skills are a need?

Let us know!

People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision.
—John Maxwell