4. Understanding Yourself

2. 4. Understanding Yourself

3. Chapter Overview • Role of self-awareness in leadership • Role of values in developing character • Understanding strengths and how to apply them to life

4. Understanding Yourself • Nature vs. nurture debate • Example: Someone may be tall and seen as imposing, even though they are quiet and shy. • Can intentionally choose to develop desired traits or skills. • Cannot always change the way others view you, but you can still be authentic.

5. Self-Leadership Development • No one can teach you about yourself except you (Bennis, 1989). • Common human temptation is to try to be like someone else, but that is like trying to live someone else’s life. • Awareness ultimately requires you to be introspective about yourself.

6. Self-Leadership Development Four lessons to develop self-knowledge: • You are your own best teacher. • Accept responsibility. Blame no one. • You can learn anything you want to learn. • True understanding comes from reflection on your experience. Bennis, W. G. (1989). On becoming a leader. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

7. If you often sit in a meeting and think, “It’s not my responsibility; I will just let the leaders do it. After all, it’s their job,” then you need to develop more self-leadership skills.

8. Esteem and Confidence • How you think and feel about yourself is the energy that fuels your motivation. • Self-esteem is the subjective element of how you feel about yourself. • Honoring your strengths and addressing your weaknesses are essential first steps toward higher self-esteem.

9. Esteem and Confidence • Self-confidence is the ability to know that you can rely on your strengths, competencies, and skills in the many contexts in which you find yourself. • Realizing that you cannot change some things about yourself is a step toward higher self-esteem. • You can however, learn new skills and add to your knowledge base.

10. Esteem and Confidence • Cognitive Reframing: perceiving things differently—a different way of thinking. “I didn’t belong as a kid, and that always bothered me. If only I’d known that one day my differentness would be an asset, then my early life would have been much easier.” ―Bette Midler

11. Emotional Intelligence “The capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships.”―Goleman

12. Emotional Intelligence Five qualities of effective leaders: • Self-awareness • Self-regulation • Motivation • Empathy • Social skill

13. Developing Your Talents and Strengths • Effective leaders know what they do best and apply their strengths in all aspects of their lives. • Buckingham and Clifton assumptions: • Each person’s talents are enduring and unique. • Each person’s greatest room for growth is in the area of his or her greatest strength.

14. “The real tragedy of life is not that each of us doesn’t have enough strengths, it’s that we fail to use the ones that we have.”

15. Developing Your Talents and Strengths • Humans remember four negative memories to every positive one.* • However, individuals respond to praise and positive affirmation. Confidence and motivation to grow increase when strengths and talents are affirmed. • If some of your strengths are overemphasized, they can become your weakness. And what you consider to be weaknesses may actually be seen as strengths by others. * Roberts et al. (2005). How to play to your strengths. Harvard Business Review, 83,(1),75–80.

16. Identifying Your Passions and Strengths Try these strategies to find your strengths: • Listen to yourself when you have done something well, even if no one else noticed. • Identify the satisfaction you feel when you know something you did was terrific and gives you a feeling of well-being. • Know what things you find easy to learn quickly. • Study your successes for clues of excellence. • Think about your patterns of excellence―when you practice a skill and you feel it improve each time you do it. Clifton, D. O., & Nelson, P. (1992). Soar with your strengths. New York, NY: Delacorte Press.

17. Character Strengths and Virtues • The VIA classification includes three conceptual levels: • Virtues • Character strengths • Situational themes • VIA measures character strengths using a strengths-based approach to measuring character.

18. VIA Six Virtues The VIA classification scheme is organized around six virtues: • Courage • Justice • Wisdom and knowledge • Humanity • Temperance • Transcendence Peterson, C., & Seligman, M.E.P. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

19. VIA Classification

20. Values and Beliefs • Beliefs shape values, which influence your thoughts and actions. • If you can articulate your values, then you are likely to be aware of the principles and beliefs that serve as your guides.

21. Eight Moral Values • Research Question: “If you could help create a global code of ethics, what would it include?” • Their findings led to eight moral values likely to be exceptionally important in our shared global future: • Love • Truthfulness • Fairness • Freedom • Unity • Tolerance • Responsibility • Respect for life

22. Character and Ethical Behavior The Josephson Institute of Ethics proposes six pillars of character that are “enduring and indispensable” to ethical leadership practices: • Trustworthiness • Respect • Responsibility • Fairness • Caring • Citizenship