Leadership starts with yourself!

Specifically, it starts with your mind.
By understanding how your mind works, you can lead yourself effectively.

By understanding yourself effectively, you can understand others and be able to lead them more effectively.

And by understanding others more effectively, you can lead your team and organization more effectively

The Potential Project, Rasmus Hougaard and Jacqueline Carter researched thousands of organizations. Their research showed that leadership started first with one’s self.

Three foundational skills rose to the top for successful leaders: Mindfulness, selflessness and compassion.

You have to become highly self-aware of your strengths and weaknesses.

Why is becoming more self-aware important to your leadership?

By being more mindful, you become aware or your liabilities, your triggers, your buttons that others can pus and why.

What does mindfulness mean to you?

When we say mindfulness we mean:
Focused vs. Distracted
Aware vs. Autopilot.

Selflessness means
Selfless vs Ego-centered
Confident vs. Diffident (hesitant, insecure, timid, shy, reserved)

As you practice selflessness, you become more compassionate. What does being compassionate mean to you on the job?

When we say compassionate
we mean:
Kind vs. Indifferent
Wise vs. Ignorant

What area do you personally need to act on to improve leading yourself?

What’s the difference between a manager and a leader?

Being a manager means you’re managing things, time, deadlines, the work. It’s about execution and all the details involved.

Being leader is about people. It’s leading, coaching, involving, and enabling people to do
their best work.

So how do you know if you ready to cross from being a manager to being a leader?

Here are three tests to help you decide if you’ve made the shift from managing things and people to leading people.

Test 1. Do you count value or do you create value?

You’re probably counting value, not adding it, if you’re managing people. Only managers count value; some even reduce value by disabling those who add value.

Test 2. Do you have circles of influence or circles of power?

Just as managers have subordinates and leaders have followers, managers create circles of power while leaders create circles of influence.

Test 3. Do you lead people or manage work?

Management consists of controlling a group or a set of entities to accomplish a goal.

Leadership refers to an individual’s ability to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward organizational success.

Lets’ move to the final learning objective for today: Explore "others oriented" mindset of leadership.

Other's Oriented Leadership Compass

• what you give
• what you give up
• what’s a given
• what you get

a. What You Give:
This includes credit and praise, informed encouragement, bedrock respect, your time and full attention, unswerving support and empowerment, and assurance of mastery.