Know Thyself: The First Step of Effective Leadership

The following is adapted from Changing Altitude .

We believe the first and most crucial step to take in your leadership development is to know thyself. But why should this matter so much??

The doorway to being a great spouse, a great parent, and certainly a great leader is the understanding that you have a limited view of reality. Your perspective is limited by your biases, your ethnicity, your background, your culture, your personality—all of the aspects that make you who you are. Therefore, if you want to change altitude—to soar high and fly far successfully—you must have the courage to study your operating manual.

Knowing yourself is like learning how to effectively read all the instruments that can help to make a plane’s flight smooth. It’s the first step towards effective leadership, and it’s a significant prerequisite to getting the best out of your team.?

The Case for Knowing Thyself

Both the Marine Corps and the Army list the same first principle of leadership: “Know yourself and seek self-improvement.”

This principle of leadership is actually ancient. The emperor of Rome, Marcus Aurelius, was one of the first historical leaders to articulate the importance of getting in touch with your giftedness and having the courageous humility to address your weaknesses. Aurelius wrote, “Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look there.” He also emphasized the importance of surrounding yourself with people who could bring strengths and talent to the areas you couldn’t.

Why should self-awareness be such a key characteristic of great leadership? Self-awareness turns out to be the foundation for many other leadership traits:

• Self-awareness helps you be more objective. Every person has blind spots and biases that will influence their decision-making. If you know what yours are, you can account for them when you lead. If you don’t know what they are, you have no idea if you’re making decisions in an emotional, reactive way or in a thoughtful, objective way.
• Self-awareness helps you be more effective. By understanding your strengths, you can do more in those areas and pursue excellence. By understanding your weaknesses, you can better manage them. (We’ll say more on this soon.)
• Self-awareness is essential to motivate others. In several of our later chapters, we’ll talk about how good leaders provide purpose, direction, and motivation to their teams. If you don’t have self-awareness about how people take what you say or do, it will be challenging for you to motivate them. If you want your employees to thrive in the workplace, you have to clearly understand how they respond to your leadership, which requires self-awareness.
• Self-awareness is essential to empower others. To develop others, you need to understand your own process of development. How can you lead employees in analyzing their own strengths and weaknesses if you haven’t considered your own? You can deepen emotional intelligence in others by taking steps to deepen your own first.?
• Self-awareness helps you be more adaptable. When you’re not aware of your own biases and tendencies, they’ll steer you every time—whether or not they should. But when you know what they are, you can think critically about the best response to any situation. You’ll encounter new challenges with objectivity, enabling you to adapt effectively.
• Self-awareness helps you be more creative. If you’re hung up on your own view being the only right one, you can’t entertain new ideas. However, when you understand your own creative potential limits, you can open yourself to ideas from your team and tap into far more creativity.???

The essence of self-awareness means that we clearly understand how others perceive us and are aware of our own strengths and weaknesses. Only from that position of awareness can we use our work to increase the good of the organizations we lead.?

So how do you get that awareness? It often starts with a healthy dose of humility.?

Humility Is the Foundation for Self-Awareness

If self-awareness is the foundation for most other leadership traits, then humility is the foundation for self-awareness.?

The leaders who most desperately need self-awareness are always the ones who think they don’t need it. In those cases, the missing ingredient is humility. If you’re reading this, thinking, I don’t actually need self-awareness, then take a moment to check yourself. There’s a good chance you are woefully exposed, in full view of everyone around you!?

If you want to know where you stand on this issue of humility and self-awareness, consider the “mirror and window” test. Imagine that in your office, there’s a window that opens out onto the floor where your team works. There’s also a mirror which hangs on the wall. Here’s the test: When do you shout things out the window? When do you take a good look in the mirror?

The arrogant leader shouts things out the window when things go badly: “Hey! You guys are all screwing up out there!” When things go well, that’s when they look in the mirror: “Good job, self. You did it.”?

The humble leader—the one bent on growth, the one who wants to pursue greater self-awareness—looks in the mirror when things go wrong. They probe that failure for meaning, asking, “What did I expect would happen? What did actually happen? How do I understand the difference? Where can I take my team from here?” When things go well—that’s when the humble leader shouts out the window: “Thank you, team! Well done! You did it!” They show gratitude to their employees, acknowledging that many people were responsible for their success.

The Humble, Self-Aware Leader

You don’t just make yourself a better leader with humility—you also become a much better person to work for. The humble, self-aware leader embraces the idea of interconnected teamwork. They’re able to inspire others and create safe environments to admit mistakes. They don’t try to operate as a rugged, isolated individual—they’re collaborators.

And life is a collaborative effort. Look at your own life: Who raised you? Who taught you? Who mentored you? Who were the people who reached out their hand to you during your own professional journey, helping to support you and lift you up? Most likely, there are many people you could name who all played a part in your leadership journey.?

The journey towards knowing thyself begins with the humble recognition that you need self-awareness. Are you ready with that humility? Do you want more self-awareness?

Good. Then your leadership journey can begin.

For more advice on getting to know yourself, you can find Changing Altitude on Amazon or by visiting ChangingAltitude.co .

Dr. Dennis O’Neil has decades of applied leadership and teaching experience as an executive coach with leadershipForward, a professor of strategic leadership, and a trusted advisor to CEOs, public and non-profit boards, senior government and military officials, and multinational organizations. Dennis combines his experiences with leading research to focus on the client’s most compelling needs.

Greg Hiebert is the co-founder of leadershipForward and the bestselling author of You Can’t Give What You Don’t Have. He’s served as a leader and mentor for an eclectic mix of organizations like the United States Military Academy, the United States Army, McKinsey & Company, and the Yale School of Management. His coaching approach incorporates deep levels of authentic and courageous dialogue to create conditions for personal and organizational transformation.