Q: How do good leaders operate? What strategies do they apply as they run their day-to-day businesses? 

A: Leadership may be as much the result of introspection as it is the result of successful execution.  Self-knowledge triggers the kind of action that makes strong leadership.

Several gifted analysts give useful guidelines for addressing leadership and its many forms.  Recently, I have been leafing through, The Self-Aware Leader (Daniel P. Gallagher and Joseph Costal, The Self-Aware Leader: A Proven Model for Reinventing Yourself. American Society for Training & Development, 2012) which is a book endorsed by Michael Brown, the CEO and co-founder of the Boston-based, not-for-profit organization City Year, Inc. The authors tout self-awareness as the defining attribute for middle managers who aspire to higher levels of leadership noting that self-awareness operates as “the foundation of reinvention.” Additionally, the authors suggest self-awareness serves as both “binoculars” and “compass” allowing a leader to anticipate what is coming down the line “with ample time to navigate” while staying on track and feeling confident about changes in direction (16).

It is also noted that at the middle management level, most managers are either people oriented or they are task oriented.  The people-oriented leaders focus on relationship building, influence and communication (Gallagher and Costal, 6).  Their task-oriented peers focus on achieving results. Significantly, the authors note that higher up the management chain, these distinctions tend to disappear.  The reason for this is that when managing “a more complex team” or multiple teams, it is necessary to find balance to succeed which is where self-awareness comes into play (Gallagher and Costal, 6).

Much of the Gallagher and Costal’s analysis focuses on how professional and emotional self-awareness affect overall leadership acumen and the many minute ways in which enhanced self-awareness can and does improve overall leadership (10-12).  Self-awareness is the base which then connects with “pillars of reinvention” including:

• above average network and support systems;
• proficiency in critical and systems thinking;
• a savvy perspective of the political landscape, and
• a courageous drive for magis (more for the good of others) (Gallagher and Costal, 46)

Let us examine the idea that self-awareness is the basis of leadership, and that the distinguishing feature defining the highest level of leadership involves self-knowledge and the ability to reinvent self.  This is profound.  Recently, as we recruiters have counseled various levels of professional clients, it has come clear that major contributors to overall success, beyond mere competence, are flexibility and state of mind.  This self-awareness concept draws on the attitudes and knowledge that help create internal, personal balance.

Even in career planning, a participant’s attitude toward feedback and set-backs is telling. Professionals who are not particularly self-aware tend to dwell on negative scenarios, set-backs and controversy, and they get “stuck” in a model that stifles growth and mobility. Those who tend to demonstrate resilience and have an internal sense of self will see difficult circumstances in a more positive light while keeping a focus on solutions.  This second group exhibits self-awareness and, therefore, leadership.  As the authors note, “[i]n order to stay relevant you need to reinvent and in order to reinvent you must be self-aware” (Gallagher and Costal, 29).

Contact Karen Alphonse at Karena@execSearches.com or visit ExecSearches.com for more information about our career coaching services.

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Last updated on January 13th, 2014 at 08:12 pm