Course 2, Discussion 2: Lead by example
Great Leadership, unsurprisingly, starts with yourself!
Practice what you preach. Lead by example. I am sure all of you heard these phrases. But why are they so iconic?
Because the journey starts with the first step and you are the person who is taking the initiative to lead -- Start a journey! So, you are the one who needs to take the first step before expecting others to do it.
To start with leading yourself, close your eyes and visualize two people: someone who inspired and encouraged you to be like them, and someone who discouraged you to be not like them.
Then, write down the good qualities of the person who inspired you as well as the qualities of the second person. You do not have to be specific with the details. Just a bulleted list.
Now, compare the list to yourself. Note the good qualities you have, the bad qualities you have, and give yourself a rating on a scale of 1-10. What we just did is identified your strengths and weaknesses and what you need in order to lead yourself. This allows you to create self-awareness.
Self-awareness is key to leading yourself in the right direction. But, leading yourself is not easy. Just being self-aware isn't enough. It's igniting the spark but not enough to catch the fire. To catch the fire, you need to be persistent with your practice, which is regular reflection. Be consistent with monitoring your efforts and holding yourself accountable.
You can't effectively lead others until you know how to lead yourself. That happens through Self-Observant Leadership: when you deeply understand your identity, compare it to your reputation (how others experience you) and then make meaning of the observations, and choose to adapt.
Exercise:
✒️ What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
✒️ Respond to one of your peers in this thread
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What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
I learned that self-observant leadership includes deeply understanding your identity, comparing it to your reputation, making meaning of those observations and choosing to adapt.
@LoveMyMoonflowers
Sounds like an in-depth analysis. It's interesting how you see interpersonal skills combined with how others view us as leaders provides significant introspection into the value we provide.
@Hope
What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
Thee best way to inspire others through example. Simple do like being on time are appropriate. And don't like when we are speaking as a team, triangulation must be avoided.
@bestBraveheart57
This was awesome. So well explained! 👍❤️. Loved it!
@Hope
What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
I learnt that it is important to know about myself, know how to lead myself only then can I be a good leader to others. If we cannot judge ourselves, if we cannot tell who we are really, then we cannot be a good leader for a group!
@Grace3012
Very well said!! Thank you for sharing, I think it's important to judge ourselves for improvement too!
@Hope
✒️ What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
I think its important to understand the whole team as individuals and what each other's strengths and weaknesses are so you are utilising everybody's strengths to the highest standard and help fill in gaps where there may be weaknesses. Lead self before leading others.
@Shannon1996 great work participating in this program and learning more about leadership! I wish you luck!
@Hope I learned through the exercise that I possess qualities such as empathy, determination, and good communication skills, which I admire in others. On the other hand, I also recognized an occasional lack of assertiveness, which is an area I need to work on to lead more effectively. This exercise helped me gain a clearer understanding of my strengths and weaknesses, enabling me to focus on personal growth and self-improvement.
@ChillingRain
It's interesting that you managed to take note of all of this, good work:)
@Hope
✒️ What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
By doing the given exercise, it helped me linearize the sort of traits that I look up to and in which I could use to be a good leader for not only the people around me but for myself too. It was just good to brush up on in a way
@8grim8
That's awesome. It will open up good doors for you
@Hope
In the exercise, I identified qualities that inspire and discourage, creating a self-awareness snapshot. I also identified and rated my strengths and weaknesses. This exercise emphasized continuous self-reflection for personal growth, crucial for my academic and career pursuits.
Greetings to all my besties of 7 Cups.
@Hope
I scored 31/35
I am a democrat
and I agree with that. in any situation, i have always strived to help others
which ,akes me perfect for my role
@starryCandy6123
The democratic leadership style is quite wonderful! It's awesome that you relate to it :)
I get a feeling that you'd make a wonderful boss!
@Hope
✒️ What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
I realized that while questing for perfection is something I learned from someone I hold in high regard, my personal hyper-focus on it often leads to inertia.
Instead of creating a perfect picture of something in my head and trying to achieve that, I should create SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely) goals so that I have something concrete to measure my progress against.
@ABrightBlueHeart
i find your first paragraph fascinating. It is so interesting that we learn questing for perfection from someone we admire, and yet that becomes one of our biggest struggles. I am in this same exact boat!
@Hope
i learned that I mostly admire people who are in leadership roles and the qualities that I admire in them are usually coaching and pacesetting which ironically were my highest scores in the leadership style in the last discussion.
my response to my peer.
@ABrightBlueHeart
i find your first paragraph fascinating. It is so interesting that we learn questing for perfection from someone we admire, and yet that becomes one of our biggest struggles. I am in this same exact boat!
@Kristynsmama
I love the leaders who coach as well.
