One of the most important questions any leader will ever be asked to answer is, “What is the single most difficult challenge a leader will ever be confronted with in their life as a leader?” In light of the current COVID-19 pandemic, you might expect a leader to respond to this question by highlighting the challenge of being confronted with an unforeseen crisis that appears to disrupt and change everything. That kind of response would be expected, especially in this hour, with all of the challenges leaders are facing in this current crisis. The toughest, and by far, the single most difficult challenge a leader will ever face is the daily and continuous challenge of leading and managing self. The most practical, perceptive, insightful, and wise conclusion any leader will ever make is that there will never be a leadership challenge they will ever face that is greater than leading and managing self. All of us have known bright, talented and highly gifted individuals who have failed in their positions of leadership because of their inability to lead and manage their own lives. If those who are asked to follow their leaders observe erratic behaviors, inconsistency and hypocrisy in their leaders, they will lose their trust and respect for their leaders which erodes the credibility of their leaders. It is a fundamental leadership principle that a leader is not in a position to successfully lead others, until they are successfully leading self.
All leaders are always on stage in the eyes of their people, and in many respects, always under the microscope. This is even more true during a crisis like the one we are presently experiencing. This current crisis is an opportunity for all leaders to engage in some self-examination and self-reflection. Although it is difficult for all of us to objectively see ourselves for who we are, as leaders the effectiveness of our leadership is dependent upon our ability to accurately assess both our strengths and our weaknesses. This is an impossibility if we are not making self-leadership our highest priority on a daily basis. What does it mean for a leader to engage in self-leadership? If the essence of leadership is about influencing others (which it is), then self-leadership is about influencing self. Our ability to influence ourselves begins with self-awareness. To be self-aware is to have clarity about your identity, your purpose, your values and your intentions. Self-aware leaders strive to engage in accurate self-assessment in order to become more intentional about managing their strengths and weaknesses, while assessing how their relational patterns actually impact others. Self-awareness is a tool in the life of a leader that empowers a leader to make the necessary changes and adjustments within a leader to more positively influence others.
Self-leadership, in the final analysis, is about self-management. Leading oneself requires self-control and personal discipline. We earn the right to be followed as leaders when we consistently manage our attitudes, emotions, passions, communication patterns and treatment of others in a highly respectful manner that values people. Those who seek to lead themselves, must fear their capacity and potential to live in a self-deceived. Too many leaders have become strangers to themselves as a result of continually telling themselves lies about themselves and believing those lies, which leads to moral, relational and leadership disasters. Those who hope to successfully lead self, must engage the help of others. The ability to lead self requires increasing the level of humility that exists in our lives. Humble leaders recognize they are in continual need of growth, change and improvement. This humility causes them to assume personal responsibility for their lives, while cultivating a teachable spirit that leads to accountability and answerability in their lives. Our world is in desperate need of self-led leaders. Are you willing to become one of them?
