Leadership is tough. Growing is hard.

When was the last time you:

• Reflected on your own leadership?
• Sought feedback from your boss or direct reports on how well you lead?
• Opened yourself up to honest feedback from someone you trust?

Here’s a quick Leadership Assessment to help leaders understand where they are in their leadership journey.

What leadership skills do you need to strengthen?

If you can’t answer that question quickly, you probably have some work to do.

Leadership starts with you.

If you can’t lead yourself, you can’t lead.

I know we like to pretend otherwise. But why? Because it’s hard!

You are totally responsible for what happens when you lead yourself. No playing victim, no blame or reasons why things are the way they are, and no excuses for getting the results you don’t want.

Learning to lead yourself is one of the most important things you’ll ever do as an authentic leader.

Before you can lead others, you must learn to lead yourself. (If you cannot lead yourself, why would others want to follow you?)

Leaders who fail at leading themselves eventually fail with others. They lose their moral compass, they burn out, or they alienate important relationships.

Learning to lead yourself starts by becoming more aware of your actions through reflective thinking.

I call this practice “building your awareness muscle.”

The more you train your awareness muscle, the stronger you become—and the more productive you and your team become.

Want to become a better leader? Become a conscious observer.

Start by observing yourself. 

• Are you showing up as the leader you aspire to be? Be honest.
• Are you bringing positive energy or are you constantly getting annoyed and frustrated?
• Do you take the time to help others understand something or do you judge them for not knowing?
• Do you articulate your thoughts in a way that inspires others to act or do you intimidate others?

Self-awareness is the key to effective leadership. Self-awareness is the key to mastery.

Leaders consciously build their awareness muscle. Are you?

For a deeper dive on this topic, listen to the “Build Your Awareness Muscle” episode on the Getting Results podcast. I share a bunch of different strategies and tactics to help leaders build their awareness muscle. Check it out. It’s available on Apple Podcast, Google, Spotify and others…