Consider your ideal leader

Have you considered the qualities and skills you want in your ideal leader?

Are they motivational, supportive, reliable, consistent and honest?
Do they have a clear vision for the future and an actionable plan to bring it to fruition?
Do they extend and guide you in ways that show their belief in your abilities and potential? Sounds pretty good doesn’t it!

Many of us think about good leaders we have had or would like to have and then try and find them.

However, how many of us look for this leader within?

Every time we talk to ourselves we are building an internal relationship that can support or undermine us in the world.

Self-criticism, berating ourselves, focusing on flaws and weaknesses is unfortunately far more common than leading and guiding ourselves positively. This inner critic can take up a lot of space in our brains and affects how we perceive ourselves and how we navigate the world.

In contrast, once we are aware of this negative thinking pattern, we can work on building positive self-leadership through engaging our inner-mentor. Finding a level of self-acceptance does not require us to be perfect at one end of the continuum and worthless at the other. Instead we find ways to be more self-accepting and create space inside for our strengths, skills, vulnerabilities, quirkiness, goals, dreams, potential and our opportunities for growth and development.

Self-leadership is not only highly beneficial for ourselves, but as I often reflect, you can’t lead others if you can’t lead yourself. What I mean by this, is that to lead others well in a sustainable way, it is important to learn to lead yourself well.

If you are interested in learning more about self-leadership I recommend Daniel Goleman’s book Emotional Intelligence as well as reviewing chapters three and four of my book Leading Above the Line. I also have a one day self-leadership workshop coming up in a few weeks - further details below.

If you would like to have a 15minute conversation with me please book yourself into my diary here.