“Great leaders last because they lead themselves first.”
Andy Stanley
Self-leadership is the most important component of becoming a successful leader. How can you expect anyone else to follow you if you don’t set the example and demonstrate that you can lead yourself?
So what does this mean? It carries much more meaning than simply leading by example. It requires tremendous self-awareness and the ability to get outside of your own head to see yourself, and your behavior, and then determine what changes need to be made to become the leader you know you are capable of becoming.
The model of leadership effectiveness that I personally use follows these core principles: (see previous post here)
- Set clear expectations
- Coach and train to the expectations
- Evaluate performance against the expectations
- Hold accountable to the expectation
The real self-leadership question is whether you are holding yourself accountable to following these same principles? If the answer is no, then you have work to do because you aren’t leading yourself first…
