Personal Leadership

Recently, I was addressing participants of a Leadership Boot Camp held in New Delhi on the subject. Sharing some key thoughts..

Leadership means different things to different people around the world, and different things in different context. For example, it could relate to team leadership, organizational leadership, community leadership, political leadership, or even in an individual context, it could imply raising your hand, giving ideas, innovating or value adding.

Typically, what are leaders typically supposed to do? They have to lead their business/functions/ teams with a purpose, constantly analyze the environment, perform SWOT analysis, envision a new future, set strategic direction, lead the change, ensure right systems and processes are in place for the strategy execution, guide, motivate and inspire others to move forward, build and coach their teams to make them even stronger.

From here, it might seem that most of the challenges for a leader are external, and they could manage them by having a compelling vision, staying ahead of their competitors with effective strategy, tools, systems, technology and a great team to deliver.

However, if we look at the key reasons, “Why leaders fail”, the causes seem to be primarily INTERNAL to themselves, ranging from their unclear vision and expectations, to high egos and operating with a fixed mind-set, slow decision making, lacking passion and commitment, being a poor communicator, not trusting people, lack of integrity, not involving others in decision making, etc.

Again, if we look at the 7 Habits of Highly effective people by Dr Stephen Covey, the 1st 3 habits deal with how we manage self, i.e. “Being proactive”, “Begin with an end in mind” and “Put first things first”. Thereupon, next 3 habits deal with how we lead others, followed by the last habit, viz. “Sharpen the saw”, which again deals with how one unleashes his/her potential by improving their effectiveness and renewing themselves in heart, body, mind and soul.

It is very clear that the first person to lead is “You”. You earn the right to lead others when they see you lead your life well. By working to become the best version of ourselves, we develop the foundation competencies that are necessary to effectively lead others.

Personal or Self-Leadership is nothing but “leadership of self”. Here, you apply the same principles of leadership that make businesses a success to your role as a leader and your life, by defining what you want out of life, providing a direction for your leadership and life, and to move in that direction consciously with consistency, clarity and purpose.

It might look easy, but it is rarely demonstrated because “the most difficult person to be led by you is… yourself”. We also tend to focus inordinately on short-term results, wealth and materiality over development and positive well-being.

Key to self-Leadership is Emotional Intelligence, which is generally not common. Emotional intelligence is your ability to acquire and apply knowledge from your emotions and the emotions of others in order to be more successful and lead a more fulfilling life. In his article in Harvard Business Review titled, “What Makes a Leader” Daniel Goleman highlighted five characteristics of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill.

With emotional intelligence, we learn to first manage ourselves through self-awareness and self-management, which leads us to gradually gaining social awareness and social skills as well. Self-awareness, which is basically the ability to recognize and understand our moods, emotions, drives, and how they all affect others, is the foundation for both emotional intelligence and self-leadership.

For embarking on the journey of personal leadership, you need to “begin with a Why”, and:

1.      Know who you are: What you believe in, what’s important, your goals

2.      Knowing what you do: Your behavior and motivations, Taking accountability

3.      Knowing what you need to learn: Areas of opportunities, learning plan, seeking feedback

4.      Leveraging what you know: Building successful habits to support the pillars and creating an environment of success

 As such, It is a journey where you go from self-awareness to self-acceptance and then to self-mastery, lead from “Inside-out” and transition from an “Accidental” leadership to an “Intentional” leadership. However, it requires long-term commitment to self-evaluation, continuous learning, honing skills and competencies, seeking feedback and making regular course corrections.

What do you need to do “Now” to imbibe self-leadership?

1.      Slow down, reflect and analyze yourself

2.      Identify and create your life purpose, inspiring life vision, personal leadership brand and value proposition

3.      Define Goals & targets to achieve your vision, live your brand, in alignment with your values

4.      Create the systems and habits to succeed

5.      Spread your Value proposition

6.      Keep challenging yourself, by taking calculated risks

7.      Be consistent, transparent and decisive – you are not here to win popularity contest!

8.      Be a life-long learner!

9.       Lead by example and leave your Legacy