Self-Awareness
Who
am I?! There has been more than one
morning that I have looked at myself in the mirror and pondered my
reflection. Self-awareness is not always
the man or women in the mirror. More
often it is knowing who we are as a leader.
Our traits, our behaviors, our beliefs, our behaviors. Especially how we behave when dealing with
our subordinates.
Serving
in the Army, leadership has a strange dynamic.
Most Soldiers spend the first three to five years as an “underling”…a
Private through Specialist. These are
the ones who do 90% of the work. Then Suddenly
a Soldier becomes a leader when he or she gets promoted to the Nonommissioned
Officer (NCO) ranks of Corporal or Sergeant.
The dynamic can be compared to a person winning the lottery. Suddenly this person is on top of the world. It is like the proverbial flipping a
switch. They have not grown into their
position and sort of “lose their minds”.
They alienate former friends, aggravate seniors and are filled with
self-puffery.
In
Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones’ paper, Getting personal on the topic of
leadership: Authentic self-expression works for those at the top, the two
state, “What characterizes effective leaders is a sense of what works for them
with others. They know and show enough
of themselves to win over their followers.”
These two also go on to discuss the leadership traits of Bill Gates,
John Harvey-Jones, Akio Morita, Darwin E. Smith and Ken Livingstone. (Goffee,
R. And Jones, G., 2006)
Regardless
of the personality or personal traits of a leader…geeky, long hair and neck
ties, boundless energy, modesty, or simple and plain living, a leader must know
who he or she is.
I was
one of those Soldiers who thought the world was my oyster when I was promoted
into the world of the NCO ranks. I
alienated my fellow Soldiers and aggravated my senior leaders. Honestly, it was just a phase. I got beyond it. After reality sank in, I began looking at
myself as a leader. Who was I as a
leader? How was I as a leader? Was I even a leader or did I just wear the
ranks of a leader? It took time but I
eventually understood who I was as a leader.
Only then, was I able to lead.
Reference
Goffee, R. and Jones, G. (2006). Getting personal on the topic of leadership. [Human Resource
Management International Digest]. Vol
14. Number 4. Pages 32-34.
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