Leading Yourself First

Leading yourself simply means influencing yourself to do the right things that make you a better person.

Hello, friends.

Welcome to Monday.

We should have published earlier than this, but we had to address other issues (sorry, and forgive our lateness).

Last week, we revisited the definition of leadership. And we established the following key thoughts:

• Serving others does not come naturally.
• Leadership is INFLUENCE.
• Leadership is effective and powerful “together”.

Read the previous article here.

I revisited the definition of leadership last week because many do not know what leadership is.

It has become routine for people to talk about leadership.

Leadership…meh! Normal stuff.

The ‘overnormalization’of leadership, a term we use to describe the tendency to overlook leadership and explore it only superficially, has led many to underestimate its complexity and importance.

This lack of depth is evident in every area of life.

We need more leaders deep enough to understand that leadership is a lifestyle, not a role or position.

We carry leadership everywhere we go.

We take the leadership mindset with us to work, the bus station, the restaurant, the restroom, the school, the kitchen and everywhere.

We don’t drop it at the office door when leaving at the end of the day and pick it back up the next day when we resume work.

Leadership should be a part of us, and one major way we can make leadership a part of us is if we understand how to lead ourselves first.

This is not just a concept but a powerful tool that empowers us to take control of our lives and destinies.

You Are Your First Subject

Before going out to lead a team or anyone, you must be on the path to mastering yourself.

Leading yourself simply means influencing yourself to do the right things that make you a better person.

In leading yourself, you must be true to yourself. You must understand your abilities, your weaknesses and potential.

You must be in control of yourself.

Attempting to lead others when you don’t have control of yourself is a disaster waiting to happen.

Trust me.

Herein lies the reason why many leaders crumble under the immense pressure of leadership.

They have not mastered themselves yet.

They don’t know their abilities, their capacity and what inspires and motivates them.

In discovering ourselves, we can tap into inner strength and energy.

Each one of us has immense power lying within.

But this strength is covered and hidden under years of self-doubt, lack of confidence, and other baggage hindering our real potential from surfacing–culture, tradition; you name it!

When we decide to go on the difficult path of self-discovery, which involves confronting our fears, acknowledging our weaknesses, and embracing our strengths, we gradually dig deeper and begin to see our true selves and power. This process of self-discovery is not easy, but it’s when we start realising our true potential and abilities.

It’s the realisation that gives us the strength to stand and, in turn, be able to lead others.

You must know your values and beliefs and master your emotions if you ever want to be successful as a leader.

Your team members or those you lead look up to you.

They don’t just see your well-made hair, fantastic suit, new shoes, or watch. They are looking at the real you. They are looking at what inspires, motivates and keeps you going.

Have you discovered what keeps you going? Your inner motivation?

Have you?

Discovering Yourself

A leader who hasn’t discovered himself has no business trying to lead others into self-discovery.

You may ask, what does self-discovery have to do with leadership?

In case you don’t know friends, genuine and authentic leadership is about guiding people into self-discovery.

Everything we do in the school of leadership is about helping others discover themselves.

This is why leadership is way different from management and commanding.

Leadership is a relationship between the leader, the followers and the vision.

They are all growing into the vision.

So, as the leader grows in capacity, the followers are expected to do the same; they, too, must grow in capacity. This potential for growth in leadership is not just inspiring but also a testament to the endless possibilities in the field of leadership.

A situation where the leader is the only one growing and getting better is odd and shouldn’t be.

A true leader strives to involve everyone on the team, from the first to the smallest.

Yes, it’s a lot of work and requires a lot of dedication, and that’s why we have very few real leaders.

“The blind can’t lead the blind.”

Leaders who have clarity of purpose and a solid moral compass have been able to lead themselves.

The People Are Looking At You!

Discover yourself before you put yourself out there.

An authentic leader is a reliable and solid team member. When followers look up to him, they should see a full embodiment of the company’s goals, mission, and vision.

As a leader, you should be your company’s living mission and vision.

When team members look at you, all they should see is the living, organic version of their company’s vision and mission—right there, in a suit or whatever you wear, walking, alive, and breathing.

A living version of the vision!

How Can You Lead Yourself…?

…By discovering yourself.

Self-discovery is simply and technically about emotional intelligence. Understanding and mastering our emotions is a key aspect of leadership, and by doing so, we equip ourselves with the necessary tools for success.

We are intelligent, organic bags of emotions.

That’s what we are.

And in mastering ourselves and life, all we need to do is just master our emotions.

And in mastering our emotions, all we need to do is understand the components of emotional intelligence and personally master each component.

Here are the major components of emotional intelligence (major schools of thought agree with this classification):

• Self-Awareness.
• Self Regulation.
• Motivation
• Empathy.
• Social Skills.

We won’t be able to discuss every component in this article, but you can read about each one here.

Later, we will provide a brief overview of the components of emotional intelligence.

Our series on emotional intelligence covers its fundamental principles, and we are excited to announce that we will be compiling our emotional intelligence articles into a small e-book, which will include additional insights and resources.

In the meantime, you can start learning about emotional intelligence here.

Catch you next Monday, and have a wonderful Monday evening!

I write about leadership, innovation, and entrepreneurship every Monday at Care City. Though my writings target healthcare entrepreneurs, leaders and innovators, I feel entrepreneurs and leaders, in general, can learn from them.

A Brief Note!

For those who attended our Webinar on Saturday, we deeply appreciate your presence; it means a lot to us (a brief report will be available soon).

Our next major Healthcare Leadership and Innovation Webinar will be in March.

However, we’re planning to have smaller discussions before March.

Subscribe to our newsletter on Substack to stay in the know, or join our open WhatsApp Community (if WhatsApp is your thing).

We will send “certificates of participation” to those present this week and also send the free e-book we promised to early registrants.

We also regret to inform you that we lost the webinar recording due to an unforeseen technical challenge during the webinar. It’s sad and painful, though we’re working on retrieving it. Meanwhile, the meeting slides will be sent to all registered participants.

Thank you.