In preparation for a leadership training session, I decided to include information from the book named “Finding Your True North” by Bill George. So while I was working on the content and my speaker notes, I was inspired to use my findings here. Why because as the writer said… “Leadership matters. It matters a great deal—to our organizations and institutions, to the people who work in them, and to the people who are served by them. For our society to function effectively, we need authentic leaders who can encourage people to perform at their best and step up and lead themselves I found in the book” - Bill George.
If I ask you about the word "leadership" it may bring to your mind a variety of images. For example:
• An army officer, charging forward to meet the enemy.
• An explorer, cutting a path through the jungle for the rest of his party to follow.
• An executive, developing her company's strategy to remain ahead of the competition.
• What else?
In the next lines you will find my reflections about this subject. I hope it triggers your thinking to start finding who you are and what you want to accomplish in your personal and professional life, every day.
In our career we always heard things like…Leaders help themselves and others to do the right things. They set direction, build an inspiring vision, and create something new. Leadership is about mapping out where you need to go to "win" as a team or an organization. Leadership is dynamic, vibrant, and inspiring. Yet, while leaders set the direction, they must also use management skills to guide their team to the right destination in a smooth and efficient way.
But in order to do all of these things, first, finding who you are is the FIRST step of the journey. In fact, understanding yourself, your desire to be passionate about things, about your goals and your purpose is what the FIRST step is all about. This is an internal journey that starts by being genuinely true to yourself, exploring what you believe in and how you make connections with people in your own personal and professional circles. Because when you know who you are, you have a purpose, motivation and passion, then you are ready to engage others, build trust, and start leading others.
Consequently, the book talks about 5 key elements that will help you find the true you to become a leader for our community, personal life or profession:
1. Leading with Purpose: this requires self-awareness as the cornerstone of authentic leadership development. In fact, we need to be aware of who we are in our heart, what triggers learning for us, what areas for development and strengths we have.
2. Leading through Values: this requires that we have clarity about our values, principles and ethical boundaries.
3. Leading with Heart: this requires really understanding our motivators, and finding the spot where our motivator matches our capabilities.
4. Leading through Connected Relationships: this implies developing a support team.
5. Leading with Self-Discipline: this requires integrating who we are in all the things we do in life.
Can someone think about an example of using these elements?
After sharing these 5 elements, I’m a firm believer that “Leadership” is something any one can develop, by knowing who they are. To help with that, in the book there is an analogy related to “peeling an onion” all the way to its core, like knowing ourselves from the insight to the outsight. So when getting to know who we are, it is like peeling the onion to learn about our motivators, what triggers learning, understanding about our inner selves, our areas of difficulty, our great strengths, our fears and demons, our happy energy, etc. I am sure this is a great way to find our own leadership path, but it is not easy and takes one step at a time. Here is my own suggestion, and what I have done to help with my career and personal life. During the past 5 years I have worked closely with a professional coach- council. This has helped me overcome any difficulties I encounter in my professional journey, understanding the real me, and breaking those fearful moments and turning them into opportunities for growth. But that is not easy, because who wants to share things with others, and open your heart to let others suggest you how to be better? At the end I always think that the answers are inside us, we just need a guide to help us find the right path to those answers, and become confident to look for them. That is what will help us understand our true us becoming a strong leader in any of the activities we have in life.
Finally, here is my own reflection about the ideas expressed in the book when searching for my leadership skills…
I agree that we have to have a purpose that brings us passion, loving what we do. What I mean also from that is leading with our hearts, and if not then rethinking what we want to do in life and taking action. Also expanding our knowledge and understanding of things, but avoiding egos. Building relationships and enduring those with trust and commitment. Becoming transparent and open to others point of views, and recommendations. I will say that if we do that, in return people will demonstrate that to us too. Reaffirming our values and principles is also important, because this will make us complement us in terms of who we are and how we view life.
Action Items:
1. I welcome you to explore the book, “Finding Your True North” by Bill George
2. Make your own reflections, implementing the ideas provided. Remember that learning a new skill takes time, and you are in charge of your learning.
Let me end this entry with the following story:
"At the age of seven, a young boy and his family were forced out of their home. The boy had to work to support his family. At the age of nine, his mother passed away. When he grew up, the young man was keen to go to law school, but had no education.
At 22, he lost his job as a store clerk. At 23, he ran for state legislature and lost. The same year, he went into business. It failed, leaving him with a debt that took him 17 years to repay. At 27, he had a nervous breakdown. Two years later, he tried for the post of speaker in his state legislature. He lost. At 31, he was defeated in his attempt to become an elector. By 35, he had been defeated twice while running for Congress. Finally, he did manage to secure a brief term in Congress, but at 39 he lost his re-election bid. At 41, his four-year-old son died. At 42, he was rejected as a prospective land officer. At 45, he ran for the Senate and lost. Two years later, he lost the vice presidential nomination. At 49, he ran for Senate and lost again. At 51, he was elected the President of the United States of America.
The man in question: Abraham Lincoln."– Author Unknown
Enjoy!
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