What creates leadership? That is a big question but when you think of a great leader, what do you think of?
Here are some of my leader and anti-leader traits:
Authentic
Compassionate
Appreciative
Open-minded
Compelling
Innovative
Decisive
Passionate
Honorable
Consistent
Composed
Discerning
Ambiguous
Antagonistic
Biased
Impulsive
Anxious
Critical
Insecure
Passive
Rigid
Political
Complacent
Apprehensive
These are some of the things that leaders do (and don’t do) to create conscious and innovative cultures, employees, teams, and organizations. Are you conscious of how you are leading? How are you perceived by your peers and the people that you lead? How are you perceived by the people that lead you?
How much impact could it make on your leadership to improve just one small aspect of how you lead and how you are perceived? How can you make that improvement?
Do you realize that too much of anything becomes a detriment? For instance, if you are too compassionate, you become permissive? You can’t just focus on being more compassionate because you may just become too permissive. How do you know how much is enough?
I suggest to you that there is no way to improve your leadership without working on yourself. You must get conscious about your leadership. You must do the hard work. You must work on yourself first and others will follow.