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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@Hope
✒️ What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
The leader that I admire tends to give both positive and negative reviews. No man is perfect. I learnt that the reason why I fail as a leader is because I shy away from negative feedback. This leads to the team members lack of development because people grow from learning and correcting their mistakes.
@JoyHappyNess
Another insightful insight! This is something beautiful and I've learnt a lot from you so far :)
@JoyHappyNess
I agree - there can be a lot learned from failure and picking yourself back up again and figuring out what works. When you look at people who are really successful you see a great many times that they failed. I do think it's a delicate balance because if all you have to say to someone is negative you can crush their spirit, but I whole heartedly agree that the best leaders can deliver the good and the bad.
@JoyHappyNess
You're approach to learning about yourself is beautiful and kind. It helped me realize I put my good characteristics forward harshly. I think it is a great thing there's always someone to balance out the harshness.
What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
I asked them the same question as my acquaintances, and they shared the following feedback:
Managing team with good managerial skills
Hardworking, Dedicated to work, Honest
Team man
@Hope
✒️ What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
@beyoutofullkalon
I love that you recognized that you're a work in progress (as we all are! you're definitely not alone in this!) and I just appreciated your honesty too. By being open with ourselves, we can open the door to improvement - upwards and onwards, right? :D
I hope your able to address your anxiety in ways that are healthy and sustaining. Many deal in that including myself at times, so I can relate. Offering corrections as appropriate when it's needed or asked is understandable and even valuable and may not be seen as bossy in all cases.
Sometimes bossy is when it's spoken with a condescension, pushiness, or a disregard for others contributions etc in ways that may not be appreciated. This can also be improved through better communication skills that render consideration and care toward your coworkers.
From this exercise, I learnt the following:
The qualities in the person that encouraged me to be a leader like them:
- High empathy (EQ)
- Good and strong commitment
- Ability to bring together people
- Motivation
- Time management
The qualities in the person the discouraged me from becoming a leader like them:
- Lack of concern about others' feelings
- Critical
- Lack of discipline
- Putting more workload on others
- Not concerned about time
So, I realize that I possess two of the qualities from the second list 😅
I'll give myself a rating of 6.5 out of 10
@charmingFlower8111
I'm glad you recognize areas you need to work on to improve your effectiveness in leadership! I think I have 2 traits from the second list as well.
✒️ What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
A: I learned about myself is that I always put others first before myself. How can I lead others if I can't even lead myself? I can lead myself but I'm always putting others before myself.
@KarmaTheRascal I completely agree, majority of time I do it,too. But self reflection and self awareness helps a lot. Also breathing helps me! :)
I hope you will be sucessful on your way. :)
Have an amazing day! Sun xx
@calmingsun111
Breathing is important :D Especially fresh air
@KarmaTheRascal
I think this is such a great answer:)
@Hope I learned about myself that I don't need to be harsh or rude to be a leader. I can be straightforward but at the same time, kind.
I don't need to brag about things that I have done succesfully since it does not support my team. I can bring my team on a journey and we can work together so we can share happy and succesful moments together and - talk about them. :)
And many more... but it would be a long post! haha!
Thanks for this, really helpful :)
@Hope
I Loved the statement: "Don't take credit, then issue blame". Sometimes I forget this. As a leader, we should be included in the project ourselves and take equal blame for failures. We should also give credit where credit is due. I try to live by this, but sometimes I forget. It's a good reminder.
@CurrySoup12
This part stood out to me too. I appreciated your reflection about it and hearing about how it impacted you. ^—^
@Hope
This exercise has made me realise the importance of self reflection and that at times we should take a step back into thinking of our achievements and goals in order to move forward. I found this exercise especially useful when I struggled to be motivated!
@Hope
Exercise:
✒️ What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
🌹 I learned that I must have more confidence in my abilities and to continue pushing forward and learning as I go along. This development will help me grow and empower more people by understanding and sharing the same values.
✒️ Respond to one of your peers in this thread
🌹 The exercise has also made me realise the importance of self reflection. Very useful exercise.
@RainbowRosie I agree self-reflection is so important.
@Hope I realized there was definitely one person that influenced me a lot. I even went on to get similar degrees as them.