Leadership and the Monster Within In a Stanford Business School survey among its consultants about what the most important quality of leadership development is, the near unanimous answer is “self awareness”. The premise is that leadership is an imperfect science and no leaders are complete. In other words, leadership is a process in which we are all apprentices learning on the job. The first challenge of being a leader is to be aware of the existence of the “monster” living within us. A more familiar term for that “monster” is our ego or our “attachment to being right”. An important awareness is that our attachment to being right carries a price to ourselves and to the organization which we serve. Have you ever noticed in volunteer organization like Toastmasters that when the leader’s ego takes center stage, its followers quickly evaporate? To be sure, ego in its appropriate size is necessary to achieve and accomplish things. It is when we become unaware of the ballooning ego that we get into trouble. Being a district leader is not only an opportunity to practice but also to observe ourselves in the way we exercise service leadership. In his book, The Courage To Lead, author Brian Stanfield sums it up well; leadership is about our relationships to Life, to the Self, to Society and to the World. Learn and grow from this experience. |