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
@Sompo2402
The point you made about avoiding difficult conversations to maintain a positive environment really stood out, because that’s something a lot of people struggle with but don’t always recognize.
@listeningyouout29
I agree, This is something a lot of people fail to recognise.
Thank you for reading my post.
Love from sompo<3
@Hope
Through this exercise, I realized that I’m more influenced by how people make others feel than by what they achieve. The person who inspired me had a calm, understanding presence, while the other made interactions feel draining or discouraging and that contrast made me reflect on the kind of energy I bring into spaces. I noticed that while I do try to be supportive and empathetic, I’m not always consistent in showing up that way, especially when I’m overwhelmed or distracted. It made me realize that self-awareness isn’t just about knowing my qualities, but about being intentional with them in everyday interactions.
@listeningyouout29
This is such a valuable realizations. Keep up the good work!
✒️ What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
I learned that I should learn to lead myself first and work on my self-awereness. Through this excercise I realized that I should be more inspirational and stop overthinking my decisions. I consistent and good at setting boundaries.
Nice findings ! Kudos on making it till here !
What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
We all have our own ideas about why we hate what we hate and why we love the people we love. However, this exercise opened my eyes to the traits I share with the people I hate and how the people I admire have the exact opposite traits. Although this may be unrelated, this exercise strongly reminded me of classical theories in psychology that stated that who we liked, who we hated, and who we envied spoke a lot about us. Often who we admire indicates what we perceive we don't have. And those we hate is oftentimes having the most similar traits and we clash due to our similar natures. Those we envy speaks volumes about what we wish we were but for some reason cant cultivate within ourselves. Very thoughtful exercise overall.
@gentlemelon85
Hey gentle 😊,
Woww!!! This is such a thoughtful reflection (つ≧▽≦)つ I really like how you went beyond just the exercise and connected it to psychological ideas (which stood out to me the most 😣💕). The way you explained that who we admire, hate, or even envy reflects parts of ourselves is honestly very insightful. N so true !!! It takes a lot of self-awareness to recognize that sometimes the traits we react strongly to are connected to our own inner patterns (:
I also like how you didn’t just stay on the surface level but actually questioned why these reactions exist 😊 That kind of reflection can really help in personal growth, because once we understand it, we can start working on those areas more consciously <3
Really well put, this was meaningful to read 😊. I enjoyed reading it ;)
thank you so much for your detailed appreciation, it means a lot that you enjoyed reading it...all these thoughts just came to mind when I was reading through the above and I wanted to share it as a general knowledge. thank you so much ♥
@Hope Through this exercise, I learned that I value kindness, patience, honesty, and confidence in others, which means these are qualities I also want to strengthen in myself. I also realized that I need to improve consistency, self-discipline, and managing emotions during stressful situations. My strengths are empathy, willingness to learn, and supporting others. This exercise helped me become more self-aware and understand that leadership begins with personal growth and setting a positive example.
@blitheMagic9358
Heya Magicv😊,
Aww!! This really resonated with me 😣💕 The way you connected the qualities you admire with the ones you want to build in yourself felt very real. I especially liked how you pointed out consistency and emotional control, those are things I’m also trying to improve :) we got this 🤗
Your reflection shows a lot of self-awareness, and I think that’s where real growth actually starts. Also, the way you connected it back to leadership and leading by example was really well said (/^-^(^ ^*)/
Thanks for sharing this, it gave me something to think about too 🤗!!
* Hat's off * 😊
@Hope
✒️ What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
Through this exercise, I realized that I am inspired by qualities like intelligence, wisdom, patience, n kindness 😊 I admire people who remain calm, gentle, n grounded even when they have the ability to stand above others :) I also value those who are consistent in their growth, seek knowledge, n stay hopeful and faithful in different situations 😊
On the other hand, I feel discouraged by qualities such as negativity, blaming, rudeness, n lack of belief in others :( Behaviors like judging, backbiting, n disrespecting people are things I strongly want to avoid. I think it not good for me to interact with 'em <3
When I compared these qualities to myself, I noticed that I do reflect some of the positive traits, especially in being understanding, observant, n having a desire to grow, value Ppl's abilities, faithful, show kindness, belive in Ppl's growth, n recovery 🤗
However, I also realized that I sometimes struggle with consistency, overthinking, and being affected by negativity around me.
I would rate myself around a 6.5 to 7 out of 10, b'cos while I have good self-awareness and intentions, I still need to improve in maintaining patience, emotional balance, and being consistent in my actions.
This exercise helped me understand that leading by example is not just about admiring good qualities in others, but about practicing them in my daily behavior. It reminded me that I need to align my actions with my values and work on becoming the kind of person I look up to 😊!!
@AiluraTheCat,
I really related to many parts of your reflection 😊 We both seem to value kindness, growth, patience, and believing in people’s potential. I also liked how honestly you spoke about your struggles with overthinking and consistency — it made your reflection feel very genuine and thoughtful 🌼
@IamSkyBlueAakash
Aw, really?? It means a lot to know you connected with my reflection 🤗 I think it’s nice that we share similar values like kindness, growth, and believing in people’s potential (haha, I'm appears to be excited for nothing agn 😅)
thank you for acknowledging my honesty about overthinking and consistency it’s something I’m still working on :) but I’m trying to improve.
One step at a time, one day at a moment 😉!
@Hope,
✒️ What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
After doing this exercise, I realized that I admire people who are honest, calm, supportive, hardworking, patient, and respectful towards others. I also noticed that I dislike qualities like negativity, arrogance, dishonesty, and people who discourage others instead of helping them grow.
When I compared these qualities with myself, I understood that I do have some good qualities like being hardworking, supportive, responsible, and willing to learn and improve. At the same time, I also noticed some weaknesses in myself such as overthinking, being too self-critical sometimes, and expecting too much from myself.
This exercise helped me understand that leadership is not only about guiding others but also about improving yourself continuously. It made me more self-aware about both my strengths and weaknesses. I would rate myself around 7 out of 10 because I still have many things to improve, but I am willing to work on myself and grow step by step.
Good qualities I want to continue building:
Honesty
Patience
Supportive nature
Responsibility
Hard work
Calm communication
Qualities I want to improve:
Overthinking
Self-doubt at times
Being too hard on myself
Stress during pressure situations
✒️ Respond to one of your peers in this thread.
Will do for sure!!
@IamSkyBlueAakash
Aww, I think you completely resonate me 😅. It shows strong self-awareness and honesty. I can relate to the qualities you admire like honesty, patience, and being supportive.l
It’s also good that you recognized areas like overthinking and self-criticism. awareness is the first step to improvement.
You're aren't alone in this, we got this together 🤗.
Way to go!! ^_^
@Hope that i have to know myself first- lead myself first before i lead anybody else
Good job @Pudding1000 for reflecting on one of the most important area of becoming a great leader🌟
@Hope
✒️ What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
Rather than the video, I would like to talk about the exercise, of self - awareness, where I had to pick one person that I want to be like and one that I don't want to be like.
The first person that came to my mind was my grandma - I want to live by her kindness, I am somewhat of what she's but not fully. I tried to think of other big figures but I only end up choosing her.
And no matter how much I think, there isn't any person that I don't want to be like, well there are few who had given and is still giving me hard time. But I don't want to judge, and can't even say I don't want to be like them. This is what I learn about myself through the exercise.
@yoursmileisasradientastheSun
What you shared shows a lot of self-awareness and emotional maturity.
It’s beautiful that your grandmother naturally came to mind — it reflects how deeply kindness and values of care are already part of you, even if you feel you’re still growing into them.
Also, your hesitation to label anyone as someone you “don’t want to be like” suggests you lean more toward understanding people than judging them, which is a thoughtful and compassionate way of seeing things.
@Hope
✒️ What did you learn about yourself through the given exercise?
I learned we lead by example so change starts within, and sometimes we unintentionally adapt to qualities of people we hate the most, being self aware helps in keeping track of that and making changes as needed.