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
I was reminded of why I wanted to become a leader and to continue to tap into that passion for people. She was so right about the leaders I look up to always going to bat for their people when the time came for that.
@Hope
I learned that everyone has a certain role based on their strength and weaknesses and that we should work together to maintain healthy communities
@rkive0777
Knowing your strengths and weaknesses are the key to improve yourself and the leap to lead!
I learnt to always evaluate my strengths and weaknesses, and see the good qualities in myself, before evaluating others. As they say, you must remove the speck in your own eye, before removing that of another person.
@MicLartey1
Excellent take, MicLartey1
@McElysium very well said!
@Hope
Self mastery is key in my being able to lead others!
@AnonymousAvocado01
I like the way you worded that!
I loved this exercise. It was very difficult at times (especially having to consider and think about the qualities of the person who discouraged me to be like them) but it actually taught me a lot.
One of the people I thought of during the exercise is extremely assertive, confrontational, and domineering. While these are qualities that were extremely hurtful and harmful to me, in terms of leadership, they can be beneficial in some ways.
These traits can be negative when they show up in extreme forms, but a leader can benefit from being confident and comfortable speaking up when necessary. Personally, I could benefit greatly from learning how to become stronger and not as fearful of confrontation, especially in professional settings.
@Hope
I have to understand myself to be able to lead other people
@Hope
I feel like the most important part here is learning to lead myself before I can lead others. I can do this by encouraging myself to be a living example of the values I want to help others reach. For example, by being empathetic and listening fully.
Things that inspired me.
Be humble
Teach how to fish don’t fish and provide
Always try to see the best in people as they will deliver what you try to see and expect from them
The things that I don’t like:
Arrogance because you are a leader
In the name of protection creating a tribe of followers
Threatening people if they don’t behave in a certain way
If I have to rate myself as a leader I would give myself a 7 out of ten. As there is a lot of room for improvement and practising what you preach is not easy.
@courageousPup5706
Keep it up, you will surely get there!
@Hope
I realized I struggle with procrastination and consistency so I need to learn to hold myself more accountable while also not being too hard on myself.
@Adrestia That is good to be aware of and mitigate going forward.
