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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This is what I learned: I'm responsible, I take accountability for my acts. People can approach me if they have a query or need assistance. I value the perspectives and insights of my team. If there is a problem, I work hard to solve it.
@Hope Thank you for your post!
The person who encouraged me in pursuing a leadership role is empathic, compassionate, supportive, professional and sets boundaries clearly. The person I don't want to be liquidates people, doesn't listen to others' opinions, and command everyone without seeking/giving feedback.
I am compassionate and supportive but I need to work on how to express empathy more and how to be stronger on setting boundaries
@Hope
Through this exercise, I learned it’s important to have people that you will lead by example by because those people will help you demonstrate good qualities. Those good qualities can then be used to teach others and inspire them to lead themselves in the right direction. It’s a continuous cycle, that’s why I having a team of people that you trust and look up to and have people that you look up to at work, at school, or in the community that will help you build a good lifestyle with positive traits.
@Hope
I learned that leadership requires self-leadership which is basically reflection about ourselves."You can't effectively lead others until you know how to lead yourself." This emphasises that self-leadership is a crucial foundation for effective leadership of other.
@Hope
It's important to
- lead ourselves first before leading others by setting an example.
- Support the team and our mission
- Motivate the team
- Don't brag
- Instead of pointing out their flaws or comparing with other team members, help them to work on their weaknesses.
@warmheartedCamp3360
What did I learn?
We have both strengths and weaknesses. What we can do is strengthen our plus points and try to work on our minus points to make things smooth and efficient.
@warmheartedCamp3360
I agree with you warm. It is important that we walk hand in hand with our teammates rather than bossing around.
@Hope I learned that it is important to be very self-aware of your own strengths and weaknesses and work on improving yourself, and that this will lend itself to a positive outcome for everyone around you (not just you). It is not being a burden or taking up too much time for yourself to engage in these actions, but rather an even better way for you to help others.
@lovelyApple6441 I also think self-awareness is of paramount importance in leadership skills.
@Hope I need to stop procrastinating and start being consistent about the things that I start. If I tackle these stuffs, then I feel like I can win half the world.
@Hope
practice makes a man perfect
This exercise helped me remember the good things in me, which I usually repress.
@Hope
Exercise:
✒️ What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
Best things that I learned from this exercise is the how important self introspection is in turning around our lives. No matter how much SWOT analysis we do for our businesses but we rarely try to do that for our own business of LIFE. And persistence is the key , you keep trying everyday, you win a little everyday.
✒️ Respond to one of your peers in this thread
@ Hope .
Thanks a lot for this.