Leading others starts with your decision to lead yourself first. Take a good look in the mirror. Observe the biases and baggage preventing you from developing into a Business Person of Worth.
Your persistent dedication to your perpetual “issues” are the Elephants in Your Room. You won’t move forward until and unless you understand what is holding you back, and why you hold yourself back at all.
You wrestle with Self Worth, don’t you?
Self-belief is the most important attribute in leadership. Self-belief is your beacon that others follow. When you let your own light shine, you ignite others to reflect on their own possibilities. In turn, they elect to give themselves the same permissions.
Together you emerge from the darkness into the light of clarity of purpose and commitment.
Leading others continuously tests your courage to assume risk, take chances, and test uncharted waters. Leading others allows you to ask yourself, and each other, “Why not?” rather than remain fettered by the question: “Why at all?”
Leading others provides the perspective to reflect and assess. Leading others allows you to see humor and irony in choosing to follow a path which was in front of your face for so long, yet seemed so daunting a route.
Now the footsteps you follow are clear.
Lead yourself first. Make that leap in personal faith. The difference you make to yourself and others is immediately palpable. Your leadership becomes your second skin. It becomes your mantra for continually striving for professional clarity.
Babette N. Ten Haken is a management strategist and team-building leadership coach. She helps teams, startups and businesses who wrestle with unpredictable revenue streams. Her Workshops and Playbooks create more productive and profitable teams in healthier organizations. Her Playbook on leadership and business strategies, including tools, Do YOU Mean Business? is available on Amazon.com.
This post will be featured under the title “On Leadership” in the new WomenSalesPros ebook, October, 2015.
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