Great Leaders Lead From Inside-Out

By A,Abeku Haywood-Dadzie

"The individual who wants to reach the top in business must appreciate the might and force of habit. He must be quick to break those habits that can break him—and hasten to adopt those practices that will become the habits that helps him achieve the success he desires."— J. Paul Getty

One of the most significant challenges facing today's leaders is their failure to "lead themselves" before attempting to lead others. Personal leadership, according to Peter Drucker, will be "the only leadership that’s going to matter in the 21st century." The ability of leaders to lead from the "Inside Out" is what distinguishes great leaders from excellent leaders today and in the future. Thomas John Watson Sr., the former chairman and CEO of IBM, came to a similar conclusion when he said, "Nothing so conclusively proves a man’s ability to lead others, as what he does from day to day to lead himself."

What is self-leadership? is a term used to describe a person's ability to lead themselves. In their book "Self-leadership," Bryant and Kazan define self-leadership as "the practise of intentionally influencing your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours to achieve your objectives"?they expanded their definition to include "having a developed sense of who you are, what you can do, where you are going, coupled with the ability to influence your communication, emotions and behaviours on the way to getting there."

John Maxwell, the renowned leadership coach, related an incident that occurred during a question and answer session at one of his countless conferences. "What has been your greatest struggle as a leader?" a delegate inquired. "Leading me!" . "That has always been my greatest challenge as a leader," he said. His response, though simple and short, may sound basic and brief , was very insightful. However, he emphasised that the more experienced leaders were comfortable with his answers because many of their mistakes could be traced back to their own personal leadership mismanagement.

Most companies spend billions on leadership training in order to build, maintain, and improve soft skills that inspire and engage employees in their organisation. The challenge, however, is for leaders to be able to apply what they learn during these training sessions on the job.The gap between theory and practise exists and will always exist. This void, on the other hand, can only be supplied by the innate motivations of the particular leader. That is, the ability of an individual to determine the path in which he or she wants to go in life and to move consistently and clearly in that direction. Personal leadership, also known as self-leadership, focuses on what HR professionals refer to as a personal development plan (PDP): the capacity and?ability to develop, improve , and maintain one's character, charm, charisma, commitment, competence, and leadership courage by "self".

Because it is well documented that effective preparation prevents poor performance, a leader must learn to grow himself in order to develop others. Leaders that practise self-leadership understand how to lead themselves and how critical this is to their career goals. As a result, they constantly and continuously ask themselves, "How am I doing as a person?" and look for ways to be the best of themselves. They recognise that the "smallest crowd they will ever lead is themselves," and that if they perform effectively in that capacity, they will earn the right to lead larger groups.

Leaders that practise personal leadership have one distinguishing characteristic that sets them apart from other leaders and gives them such power: they are emotionally intelligent. Emotional intelligence is crucial for leaders to succeed. Such leaders are able to lead from the inside out. They are self-motivated and strive tirelessly to achieve their goals. They do not scrimp on quality because they establish goals for themselves that are higher than those set by their organization. They are more efficient and productive because they are conscious of who they are, how they feel, and how their emotions and behaviours affect the environment.

This positions them to have clearer picture of their strengths and weaknesses, and make it easy for them to identify opportunities and threats. These leaders are trustworthy, accountable, and have good interpersonal skills. The capacity to empathise, effectively communicate, and create the correct picture for their subordinates is one of the most distinguishing characteristics of leaders who practise personal leadership. They are good at implementing change and politely settling disagreements because they have good social skills.

Emotional intelligence, according to John D. Mayer, is the ability to accurately identify one's own and others' emotions, as well as the ability to interpret the messages that emotions transmit about relationships and regulate one's own and others' emotions. It doesn’t necessarily include the qualities like optimism, initiative, and self-confidence that some popular definitions ascribe to it. Again, according to Daniel Goleman, emotional intelligence consists of five major components: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. According to popular belief, if you lead yourself to success, others will follow.

Leaders who practise "self-leadership" appreciate culture. They understand it's a "genus equus", a wild horse that they must tame if they intend to succeed;?they recognise that, like a game of darts, they must understand the rules of engagement and the need to focus to have a shot at the bull’s eye. They know that culture remains an important consideration in the implementation of any strategy and that, whereas a strategy remains an inanimate creature on paper, culture possesses an invisible personality that can be identified by members within an ecosystem and is a moving target that is very difficult to get right if one does not practise self-leadership and exhibit excellent emotional and cultural intelligence.

Cultural intelligence picks up where emotional intelligence leaves off. It's crucial to remember what holds the galaxy of the McKinsey 7-S framework, that is: Strategy, Structure, System, Shared Values, Skills, Style, and Staff is nothing but culture. Shared values or "superordinate goals" are the core values of organisations that are evident in their corporate culture and general work ethics. Shared values are at the heart of the structure, connecting the hard and soft parts of the framework. This calls for leaders to appreciate and practise self-leadership.

Having a developed sense of who you are, what you can do, and where you are going enables leaders who practise self-leadership to understand their ecosystem and appreciate the fact that power and politics are inextricably linked to leadership.

Because organisations have a pyramid-shaped structure, and once people get together, a "power field" is created, resulting in the creation of a political environment. Leaders who can lead from the inside out recognise that power and politics are common in organisations because, as a social system, organisations provide a power base for individuals and groups, and because people want power for a variety of reasons, political behaviour is common in most organisations. Personal leadership allows an individual to read and understand the organization's political climate; the best antidote People who lead themselves understand that in order to be successful as a leader, they must navigate a minefield of failures.

What is your level of self-awareness? How well do you manage your own affairs?

Socrates, an Athenian moral philosopher, cautioned "man to know thyself and the problem of personal identity".