What Was The 1st Leadership Lesson You Learnt?

ALWAYS KNOW YOUR REAL WHY.

The thing with leadership is that you are continually learning. The lessons never stop if you want to be an authentic leader with genuine influence.

You can learn from both the good and bad experiences, as well as by observing poor and great leaders. You will get plenty of opportunity with both!

One of those opportunities for me was to learn an important lesson – ‘Always know your real why’.

Early on in my journey, I had to make a choice about letting someone go. Not an easy task when you know the impact that it’s going to have on the person and the other team members.

A mentor manager said to me, “Always know your real why. Not the why that first presents itself to you, that’s often window dressing, a sound bite to make you look good. Dig down underneath and find the real why. That’s the fuel to help you make a difficult decision or to keep you going when it gets tough.”

When I took the time to become aware of my ‘real why’ it gave me the clarity and conviction in my decision making. That was a foundational leadership lesson I learnt early on and one that I have gratitude for having had it shared with me. It’s become part of my DNA. It’s a lesson I would recommend to any leader or person who wants to make a difference.

As told by Karl Hughes DTM, Program Quality Director 2020-21, District 73 Toastmasters.

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