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
❗After fulfilling the requirements of this post, please check out the next post here!
🔉This post is brought to you by the Leadership Development Program, find information on it here tinyurl.com/AcademyLDP
@Hope
✒️ What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
I named the two people who inspired me. My SO and his sister. His sister is brave, outgoing, and street smart. My SO is healthy, proactive, holistic, and let's his success make the noise. These are all qualities I have. Well, maybe not health. More health-interested. :)
The person I don't want to be like is domineering, likes to yell, has a bad attitude, and has a bad temper. This the person I used to be. Then I realized who I was taking after, and how much that attitude from them hurt.
@TovaCares76
I liked how you shared your reflection, it was honest and thoughtful. It reminded me that leadership starts with self-awareness, and your example motivates me to keep improving, too.
@Hope
✒️ What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
I have learnt to prioritize self-care and be close to people who value my well-being and mental being. I have also learnt to recognize the fact that everyone has got strengths and weaknesses, and that's what makes them human.
✒️ Respond to one of your peers in this thread
I have done that.
@McElysium That's great to see that this exercise has made a good impact.
@Hope
As a leader, I would be flexible and give opportunities for growth, but I would also expect a sense of perfection and passion in any task!
@beautifulworld7890 that’s so lovely
@Hope
What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
i learner about leading myself and prioritising my mental health above everything and try to be better
@neverendingShiny7905
Great ideas!
@Hope From this exercise I've learnt that it's important to care for my people and ask them how well do they think the work is going on. Prioritizing and communicating clearly to avoid future misunderstandings or conflicts. Taking the first step before others to be responsible towards our work and the team.
Clear communication is so important! Especially when checking in with other to see how they think the work is going. Their opinion might be different from yours so it's great to make sure you are on the same page.
It's also a great leadership quality to take the first step ourselves - leading by example all the way!
@awesomeForever34 You've explained beautifully. I will surely keep your words in mind :)
✒️ What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
From this exercise I learnt that effective leaderships begins with leading myself before leading others. It is important for me to recognise my own limits and mental health before encouraging and supporting others.
@BobbieX
So good you can recognize your limits (:
@Hope
✒️ What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
I learned I already have strong empathy and positivity (like my inspirer, rated 8–9/10), but I still struggle with self-doubt and inconsistency (like the discourager, rated 5/10). It surprised me how big that gap is, and it motivated me to reflect daily so I can lead myself better first
If you have strong empathy and positive then maybe you can try directing some of that towards yourself! You're just as deserving of it as others :) That might help with your self-doubt (which I think is very natural to struggle with!) Good luck 🤩
That is a very sharp introspection!
When I imagined people, rather than those who encouraged me to be like them - I pictured Holmes and my good friend Rai - it was more of who I wanted to be like. I don't think these people are the kinds who would tell someone to see them as role models but they do possess the qualities that I think are brilliant. They are the same people I thought of who would tell me not to be like them hahaha mostly because they would want me to find my own way in the world, and that is why I look up to them most! I learned that I might have filtered out negative people from my lives effectively and I'm happy about that. I was glad that I could only think about people who I would be willing to follow. I learned that I still have a long way to go to be my best version.
Your friends sound lovely! It's so great to have role models in our life :) and even better when they are the people we surround ourselves with!
@Hope
What did you learn about yourself through the exercise?
I learned that I carry many of the positive traits of the person who inspired me, like vision, encouragement, and integrity, but I also noticed some habits from the discouraging figure, such as impatience. This showed me both my strengths and the areas I need to work on. I’d give myself an 8 out of 10, because I’m strong in leading with purpose but still growing in balance and patience.
@Hope
✒️ What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
Through this given exercise I learned to build self-awareness by identifying my strength and weaknesses. My strengths are perfectionism, consistency, accountability. My weaknesses are setting boundaries, overthinking decisions, and lack of prioritization. Although my strengths are a great attribute to building positive leadership my weaknesses can keep me from growing and improving.
