Understanding the Leader Within

As the landscape of present day world becomes more complex and volatile, it necessitates for us to realize the leader within and nurture it so that we can become what we want. This is the need of the hour and it resonates well with our survival instinct. We act or we allow ourselves to perish, choice is ours and we have no one to blame.

We all have a leader present within ourselves. By nature, we have the tendency to lead rather than being led. Circumstances, situational factors and social milieu- all work to shape it unconsciously and its true manifestation happen at the time of crisis. If we have not understood or allowed it to grow properly, when emergency arises, it would invariably desert us. That’s why it is essential for us to realize our hidden leader first and then start shaping our external leadership insight according to our profession and the situation we are living in. Harry Truman has said “To be able to lead others, a man must be willing to go forward alone”.

The internal leader:

This internal leader is gender neutral, culturally biased and heavily dependent on our inherent personality. If by nature we are introvert, we cannot have a leader within which is naturally ruthless, aggressive and assertive. It cannot be autocratic and dominating, if our persona is mostly participative and caring. However, this does not mean at the time of crisis or when pushed to the wall, it cannot reshape itself differently. To do so, our mind needs to portray the magnitude of the critical situation and the options we have.

Historically, in many conservative societies, women who never stepped outside their home, when left with no choice to fend themselves or their family, had taken bold steps completely miss-matching their personality and background. As the landscape of present day world become more complex and volatile, it necessitates for us to realize the leader within and nurture it so that we can become what we want. This is the need of the hour and it resonates well with our survival instinct. We act or we allow ourselves to perish, choice is ours and we have no one else to blame.

Role of internal leader:

In our daily life, we face many situations and we need to take many defining decisions. Such decisions are useful for us to grow, provided we take these decisions logically and sensibly. Hence, the need is to better understand the leader within and refine it. In that sense, each one of us is a born leader. It reflects our core values and sensibility while dealing with the situation at any given moment. It helps us to enhance our self confidence and self-esteem.

Once we understand the leader within us, it helps us to realize our own limitations and boundary. For example, if it is not in our nature to tell a lie even for small gains, then definitely we shall not indulge in inappropriate action for some undue advantage. If we follow the rules diligently, then we shall not endorse anyone involved in malpractice in social or corporate life. This is the boundary we draw for ourselves in our personal life and it gets naturally extended in our professional life as manager or CEO. ?

Need of Internal leader:

Appreciating the internal leader’s role shall help us to develop self-discipline. No successful person has ever achieved success without being disciplined. With self-discipline playing a greater role, it can regulate our personal life to make us more responsible. Any tangible goal cannot be attained without being responsible for the decisions or actions we are taking. Being self-disciplined, we are no longer under any outward influence and own all the deeds we complete. In this way, we become accountable for all our words and actions.

Accepting the leader within shall help us to identify our authentic self, which can result in bringing positive changes. Such positivity can help us to bring within the sphere of influence of our dealings with others poise, composure and dignity, leading to better relationships. As the sphere of influence expands, it became imperative to prioritize our time and action. Without such prioritization, life would become a mess. For example, in the current complex world, we can still maintain our relationship virtually, which we can possibly better control than actual one-on-one meeting through some amount of self-discipline.

Internal leader in perspective:

The process of discovering leader within makes us self-conscious. A self-conscious person exudes buoyancy and optimism. Optimism helps to generate hope. Hope becomes the harbinger of new perspective in life. Writer and musician Andy Crouch said “Human beings can live for forty days without food, four days without water and four minutes without air. But we cannot live for four seconds without hope”. Let our hope dictate all our future actions in a positive frame of mind.

Studies by Gallup1,2 show that in US very few percentage of leaders are effective- 13% can communicate well, 15% can inspire employees and 22% has clear direction. Organizations fail to find candidates with the right talent 82% of the time for the manager’s position.

Such colossal failure of leadership points to one thing: failure on the part of managers and leaders to first realize, then appreciate and finally nurture the leader within them. Without proper acceptance of the inner self, activities in the outer world becomes disjointed. One may live within the illusion of power and position but cannot achieve greatness as far as leadership is concerned.

In the present day world, genuine leaders are conspicuously missing and great leaders have become rarer entities. Our claim to leadership is mostly based on our position and we hardly ever worked from within towards outward by synchronizing our mind, heart and soul. Without such harmonization, it is difficult to become an authentic and inspired leader.

Let us work towards first discovering the leader within before embarking on our leadership journey.

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1Gallup- “State of the American Workplace”

2Gallup- “State of the American Manager: Analytics and Advice for Leaders”