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?
I learned that setting an example before the people who are looking after us is important. Leading self before others is what we have to do in order to lead others efficiently and effectively.
@TowardsTheR8Intent I agree, understand ourselves so we can talk and lead others
@Hope
What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
I learned that it's important to lead myself before I lead others. I also learned how to identify my strengths and weaknesses and how I can grow from these. :)
@blissfulSoul2347
Those are both incredibly important lessons to learn and I hope that they serve you well in the future!
✒️ What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
That having self-awareness and the ability to lead myself before leading others is important in team leading.
@FenrirWolf
So true
@FenrirWolf
indeed to lead others you gotta understand them and before that it is important to understand oneself first.
@Hope
I really liked your reflection! It’s great how you emphasized personal growth and self-awareness in leadership. I completely agree, understanding yourself and your team is the key to building trust and achieving success together. Keep up the great mindset!
@AwesomeForever34
I really liked your reflection! It’s great how you emphasised personal growth and self-awareness in leadership.You are awesome!!
@Hope
✒️ What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
I’ve learned that I already have several strong leadership traits. Those traits are honesty, dependability, and a genuine desire to encourage others and to be a good listener. These are qualities that make people trust and feel comfortable around me. My honesty and dependability are evident, and I can encourage others to be the best that they can be.
I have also realized that I still struggle with handling stress calmly and being as consistent as I want to be. Sometimes, I take on too much responsibility or get frustrated when things don’t go perfectly.
Recognizing this not as a weakness, but as an opportunity for growth, helps me understand that leadership isn’t about being flawless — it’s about continuous self-awareness and growth. This inspires me to strive for improvement and motivates me to become a more effective leader.
In conclusion, I’ve learned that I lead best when I’m patient with myself and with others; I stay grounded and focus on progress rather than perfection. This realization shows me that effective leadership isn't about perfection, but about making consistent progress and staying true to my values, which in turn boosts my confidence in my leadership abilities.
@ScorpiaD
What great insights! "leadership isn't about being flawless - it's about continuous self-awareness and growth" : I could not agree more with this! There is no person, leader or leadership that is flawless or perfect. It's an unrealistic standard. What is realistic though is continued self-awareness, growth and progress. This is what we should all strive for and by embodying these you will definitely lead by example and encourage others :)
✒️ What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
I put inner moral before showing up outside. I agree, I need to lead myself first
✒️ Respond to one of your peers in this thread
Sure
@Hope
In this exercise, I realized that, while there were only one or two people who discouraged me from following their paths, there are a great many people who have helped me to grow and become better towards myself as well as those around me.
@Hedgehogs83 I noticed something really similar, it's important to keep people who make you better close and those who don't far!
@Hope
✒️ What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
My biggest takeaway was gaining a more complete idea of who I should surround myself with to best support my own mental health goals!
✒️ Respond to one of your peers in this thread
@RyanListen
Those we surround ourselves with can indeed be the ones to influence us most!
@Hope
What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
I learned that it is helpful to have good people in our lives to inspire us. Observing them can show how they overcame hard things and prove that we can too.
@CordialDancer
You are absolutely right. Very good answer! We do learn from the attitudes of others.
@CordialDancer that's so important indeed!
