Why Leaders Must Wake Up to Show Up
An introduction to self-intelligence and the source of your leadership success.
Have you ever had a job that you hated? I’m willing to bet there was at least one… likely more. In those roles where you felt unseen or underutilized, how much of that would you blame on the leadership?
Chances are you put most, if not all, of the onus on the culture created by either your manager or senior leadership team. Often, toxic work cultures start at the very top and trickle down.
If you now find yourself in a leadership position, how confident are you that you will avoid some of the patterns you observed in your former bosses? Just as a new mom or dad vows to not make the same mistakes their parents did, leaders cannot do better until they know better. A critical starting point is becoming more self-aware.
Leadership comes with an awesome responsibility.
It’s important to realize that leading a team is about expanding human interactions; leveraging communication, collaboration, and connections to turn relationships into results. If we are not leading from self-intelligence, we’re leading from old programs and patterns. They’re running the show; not you.
I like to call it “waking up.” It’s about stopping to take a good look at yourself and paying attention to what is happening in you, to you, and through you right now. It starts with the recognition of who you are. Ask yourself: Who am I? What do I have to offer? What’s holding me back? How do I want to contribute?
When we see ourselves more clearly, we are able to see others more clearly.
In a sense, self-awareness is about gaining control — of your story, your message, your narrative, and being “on brand” as consistently as possible. You not only define your core beliefs and values; you also examine when and where they might be misaligned.
Self-intelligence means living from an authentic place and encouraging others to do the same. Ultimately, the quality of our leadership shows up in the messages that we broadcast.
A Radical Change: Transformation vs. Information
Waking up is a process. It’s hard work that only you can do. You can’t just sit through a presentation or read a book. It demands that you dig deep, and take responsibility for yourself and your actions (and reactions). Throughout the journey, you become more aware of your automatic thoughts, feelings, beliefs, habits, and worldview. More importantly, you begin to understand the impact they have on other people.
Waking up is a powerful invitation to transform the way you think and make meaning of the world. It sheds light on our biases, blind spots, triggers, and things that may prevent us from connecting across lines of difference. There’s no judgment or shame in this process — we all have them.
Waking up also allows you to more deeply connect with your WHY, align with your values, and realize your unique talent and genius so that you can inspire others to do the same.
Just be warned: once you head down this road there’s no going back. As my professor used to say, “Once you know, you can never not know.” But if you’re ready to become an exponential leader — to inspire change and unleash your team’s full potential — then you’re ready to explore some tough questions.
Ready to Get Started?
In the next post, I’ll highlight the four fundamental questions for self-intelligence. For now, I want you to realize that we all have a story. Self-intelligence is about understanding yours and how it has shaped you. From that place, you can begin to realize how YOU are shaping others. You are a champion.
