How can you empower yourself as a leader?

True leadership begins with a deep understanding of your own strengths and values. Great leaders are masters of soft skills, adept at steering team interactions. It's about offering a clear vision and using your experiences and insights to guide. In my view, leadership blends empathy with business acumen, crafting a journey to success that honors both the numbers and the people involved.

True empowerment stems from recognizing and capitalizing on one's individual strengths and core values. I believe that by aligning your leadership style with your authentic self, you not only inspire trust but also lead with unparalleled conviction. From my perspective, a leader's most powerful tool is their authenticity and clarity of purpose.

You need to know more than just your strengths and values. You need to have a well-rounded self-awareness that also includes your weaknesses, limiting beliefs, and a strong ability to identify and process your emotions (EIQ). This 360 degree self-awareness gives you a benchmark and foundation for improvement. It allows you to not only leverage your strengths, but to also effectively manage your weaknesses. By acknowledging the gaps in your ability (everyone has them!!) you can be vulnerable with your team and enlist their help. Having this clarity is a solid source of empowerment and helps you avoid getting caught up in a blind spot.

Self-awareness! I genuinely believe this is one of the single most important things you can possess as a human in any area of life. It will benefit you. Show up with that awareness and embrace your own authenticity. Encourage others to embrace what makes them who they are. Help other people shine instead of forcing them into boxes that will only dim their light.

When seeking feedback it's important to consider your mindset first. Nothing kills feedback faster than a defensive posture or a closed mind. A great way to look at feedback is as information, not truth. This lets you look at it impartially and without feeling attacked. Additionally, be vulnerable when asking for feedback. Let the person providing feedback know that you value their perspective enough that it makes it worth hearing the hard stuff. Ask for their understanding if you need a moment to process a piece of their feedback, and be sure to ask clarifying and non-defensive questions to ensure clarity. Lastly, follow up and let people see the difference their feedback made.

I never understood (as a young business person) - the power of a mentor. A great mentor can really change your entire focus & success. They can also help you hit strong goals - with a time line!! Go be great. Thanks - Sheila

A leader's true strength is manifested in their ability to delegate and empower those around them. I believe that by investing time in developing trust and nurturing potential, you pave the way for innovation and collaboration. From my perspective, providing clear expectations, the right resources, and genuine recognition are the cornerstones of fostering an environment where everyone thrives.

This is an area where many leaders fail. You can't carry the load alone- let your followers take on important tasks, empower them to make decisions and then support their results AND failures. Keep your followers moving forward- not spending time looking in the rearview mirror.

A rising tide lifts all ships. I would add that delegation as a form of growing and developing your people is also a great way to attract top talent. If you are hiring well, your people are going to move on and up. But unless you are delegating effectively, your ability to hire well might be short lived.

If you don't take calculated risks, you aren't leading. You may need to practice pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. Try creating a low-stakes environment (e.g. a brainstorming session) to experiment with different things, and allow them to fail. Getting practice with failure makes you more equipped to deal with it when it's the bigger stuff, and you're less likely to let fear control your decisions.

I would change this slightly to say celebrate your achievements and your failures and be sure you learn from both. Be aware that often times our achievements have just as much to teach us as our failures and we tend to examine them with less vigor. Look for your survivorship bias and try to understand what your role in an achievement was as well as what role context, luck, and others played as well. If you don't know what survivorship bias is, look a=up WWII bombers and survivorship bias. It's a great story!

One of the best ways you can empower yourself as a leader is to never stop learning. Leadership is constantly changing. Why? Because people are always changing. If people are constantly changing, then leadership constantly needs to be evolving so that it can be the most impactful. This evolution comes from continually working on the skills, both hard and soft. Leaders become empowered when they are better equipped and confident with their ability to lead. Books, conferences, coaches can all be tools leaders can use to continue to develop and feel more empowered themselves, which will directly impact the effectiveness of their leadership.