A511.7.3.RB - Self-Awareness

Self-awareness is critical in life, not only in business. But self-awareness is a critical trait of a successful leader. Self-awareness isn’t one of those big marquee leadership qualities like vision, charisma, strategic thinking or the ability to speak eloquently to an audience the size of a small city, but it’s a quieter additional quality that enables the high-octane ones to work. To use a chemistry concept, it’s a psychological catalyst.

Over the years I’ve seen and work with a number of leaders careers fail by lack of self-awareness. Individuals felt they were almighty and took crazy risks or didn’t recognize when actions that felt authoritative were actually demoralizing or in general didn’t have an accurate “read” on how others were decoding the messages they were sending.

Self-awareness can also factor into a leaders cognitive moral development. Research has shown one's own personal experience, demonstrates that as people mature, they change their values in very deep and profound ways. Just as people's physical, emotional, and cognitive abilities develop as they age, so also their ability to deal with moral issues develops as they move through their lives.

On the other hand, the most effective leaders I have known, I believe had realistic assessments of their own abilities – their strengths and weaknesses, their effect on others, the gaps that needed to be filled, they were adaptive.

My entire life is based on the notion of adaptation, I try many things in my life and fail but I don't give up and change my direction if necessary. If a leader is incapable of adaptation, he or she are unlikely to survive in today's rapidly changing business environment in which market forces can change monthly or even weekly.

This is what I think helps build and sustains a leader’s success. All these attributes form an authentic leader. Today's best leaders are authentic leaders, people whose inner compass guides their daily actions and enables them to earn the trust of their subordinates, peers, and shareholders. Authentic leaders own their mistakes, acknowledge their faults, and always put the interests of their organizations ahead of self-interests.

An authentic leader develops their own leadership style, but this leadership style should not be overly rigid. An authentic leadership style is one that can adapt to changing circumstances and situations. You should also be able to delegate when necessary and not be afraid of changing the way that you do things to suit different situations. Developing one own authentic leadership style, should begin by assessing yourself against the five qualities of an authentic leader. These qualities are: understanding your purpose, practicing your values, leading with your heart, establishing connected relationships and demonstrating self-discipline.