Leadership Starts with You

Iconic basketball coach John Wooden said, “First be best, then be first.” This line gives the imperative to earn our place as leaders. Some might think leaders are merely appointed, and that appointment is sufficient to claim authority, but understanding leadership as merely positional misses the nature of leadership altogether. More tragically, understanding leadership in this singular way omits the secret to effective leadership. Appointments are meant to reflect a deeper dynamic, an authority not based on position, but integrity.

“First be Best, then be first.” - Coach John Wooden

Integrity Matters

But wait a minute, isn’t integrity just about being reliable and trustworthy? Yes, it is about those things, but in a leadership capacity, these traits translate to reliably embodying the skills, determination, know-how, and vision to reach the goals for the team. It’s about being the type of person your team can trust to take them to where you’re being called upon to go.

And being that person is not just about your team. When you are the best, when you are the person that can reliably take your team to where they need to go in a trustworthy, competent manner, they will respect you. But even more importantly, you will respect yourself, which will mean your manner will be in alignment with your leadership actions. At the end of the day, knowing you have given yourself and others your best helps you earn not just personal confidence but the confidence of those you seek to influence.

It Changes Others

People experience hope and garner inspiration when someone demonstrates how to overcome an obstacle or meet a desired goal. The greatest throughout history is regarded as the greatest because they not only cast a vision, they worked tirelessly to gain the knowledge and pathways to achieving it. They showed people what was truly possible in new and exciting ways. All effective leaders, through their own example, give people hope.

Do you want to reap the benefits of self-leadership for your team? Our weekly Leadership Lessons are a fantastic tool for helping you up your leadership game.

Self-Awareness Equals Better Relationships

The ancient Greeks enjoined us to “Know thyself,” and with good reason. A critical aspect of self-awareness is the understanding of how our behaviors, traits, and communication affect the people in our lives, which has a direct bearing on the quality of our relationships, both personal and professional.

And the key to self-awareness is emotional intelligence because emotional intelligence allows us to identify and manage our own emotions. This understanding of our own emotional states, moods, and motivations in turn allows us to better empathize with others, which is a critical leadership quality. Here are three ways to begin to enhance self-awareness:

Make an Appointment with Yourself and/or a Trusted Mentor

Self-awareness is the product of intentional self-examination. Sometimes we are surrounded by such noise that it takes an intentional appointment to make room for the stillness needed for contemplation and getting in touch with ourselves. The insight of other people who you trust and respect can also be invaluable as well. Be sure to make time for contemplation and conversations with key mentors.

Take an Inventory of Your Motivations

We can be motivated by many things: praise, fear, validation, security, purpose, competition, love, truth, beauty, goodness to name a few. And people can frequently sense our motivations and respond to them. Take a minute to think about what motivates you in life? At work? At home? In recreation? Why are these motivating you? How do these motivations interact with and affect the motivations of others around you?

Actively Notice How You Feel

Consider writing down how you feel in various situations, especially those associated with positive feelings. By understanding what gives you feelings of well-being and positivity you can more readily translate these same effects into the lives of others.

Because self-awareness is a decision, we can begin to authentically and intentionally gain a deeper understanding of ourselves in service of our team today. Our weekly Leadership Lessons are a fantastic tool to guide you.

Keep Growing

Guest Post by Brittany Kirk, Gibson Insurance

This year has been wrought with challenges…that’s quite an understatement, isn’t it? But, ever the optimist, I’ve recently found myself thinking about how each challenge has presented an incredible opportunity for growth.

I’ve found myself repeating the mantra: with great challenge comes great opportunity.

Shelter-in-place required businesses to rethink their business models. Layoffs and furloughs required employees to rethink their careers. E-Learning required families to rethink their normal interactions and schedules. Remote work has required us to rethink how we collaborate with teams and how we serve clients. The list goes on. Each of these challenges has presented an opportunity to shed the old and embrace the new. We have been forced outside of our comfort zones, outside of the familiar, and into unknown territory. But it’s in the unfamiliar where we experience the most growth.

There are two ways that we respond to hardship – we can wish it away, hoping that the pain will go away as quickly as possible, or we can embrace the challenge and grow through the struggle.

Our world is still being turned upside-down every single day. We have no idea how long this pandemic will last, but you can bet that we’re going to continue to face new and different challenges every step of the way. And each of those challenges will present a new and different opportunity. The question is, how will you make the most of those opportunities?

No one wishes for pain. No one wanted a pandemic or e-learning, or to close their business, or to lose their job. And yet, the way we respond will determine how we come out on the other side.

We are weary, yet we are finding strength we never knew we had. We are tired, yet we face each day knowing that there are people counting on us to show up. We long for the “old normal,” yet we stay hopeful for the future.

It’s okay to be tired. It’s okay to be weary, but we must not give up.

We must keep going. We must keep growing.

Be a Superhero. Be a Leader.

Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to learn from the Cultural Intelligence Center by attending their Cultural Competency Training. The most profound experience for me was an activity where we had to start by describing a significant challenge our world face today and then consider what would happen if we left that challenge as is (not do anything about it). Lastly, we had to consider what would happen if that challenge overcame the world. Once we'd done that, we built a "superhero," equipping that superhero with special powers to overcome that challenge.

Be a Superhero. Be a Leader.

Our group had decided to make our superhero a powerful fairy (stay with me here). Our fairy has a bag of fairy dust that contains vulnerability, openness, understanding, appreciation, recognition, empathy, humility, and so on (it has everything because our fairy is a superhero).

In a world where we are diverse, be it race, culture, gender, age, education, or knowledge level, etc., what if we focus on being open and understanding from where others are coming? What if we considered the experiences that shape who others are? What would the world look like? Under stress, we tend to default to familiarity, to that comfort zone that makes us feel safe. But this isn't where change happens. To enact change, either in others or ourselves, avoid creating stressful experiences. Be considerate in your words and communication style. Be open, be a good listener, try to understand, be appreciative, and know that each person is valuable. Let that overcome the world instead.