Are You Comfortable With Who You Are? The First Essential of Significant Leadership

As we head into the third decade of the 21st Century, facing a still raging pandemic, a weakened economy, and nasty political divisions, the need for significant leadership has never been more acute. The generic, efficiency-leadership model of the 20th Century will not guide companies, the nation, or the world out of the current plight because to a very large extent, efficiency-leadership is what led to the situation in the first place.

Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing insights on the Nine Essentials of Significant Leadership. 

“Ya gotta know, and be okay with who you are, kid.” – The Colonel

The first essential is Understand Your Own Value. Significant leaders have a core knowledge of their value as a human being – not necessarily what they bring to the table with regard to competence and skill – but who they are. They understand they, like every human being on the planet, are worthy of merit simply because they exist. Human value is not determined by one’s pedigree, their country of origin, who they’re married to or dating, what their title or position is, how much money they have or make, what their abilities or disabilities might be, what size they wear, what color their skin, hair or eyes are – or any other external factor society might use to place value on a person. Every person’s value rests simply in the fact that they exist. That value doesn’t have to be earned and it cannot be purchased. It just is.

Arrogance grows out of a lack of self-esteem, not an over-abundance of it. Understanding your own value, and that your value is not affected by anything external to you, frees significant leaders to be humble. That may seem contradictory, but a leader can be confident and humble at the same time, and confident humility will attract others to follow where you need them to go.