I know that most of you applying or getting ready to go to an MBA program feel pretty confident in your self-awareness. Self-awareness has led you to the schools you applied to and eventually accepted. It led you to the bachelors you already have and the job you currently do. Self-awareness lets you know if you are a douche who needs to tone it down or the wallflower that needs to pump it up.
I have always been told I am confidently self-aware of who I am. I agree I know who I am, but I wasn’t self-aware of whom I am in business. See, after analyzing my leadership skills, fellow students leadership skills, and plenty of Harvard Business Review articles on leadership skills, I realize I was not being innovative with my leadership I was just being a copy cat I had some incredible bosses, and I had some real doozers, but they were effective in getting things done. I tended to hangout in the middle.
I confidently knew how to pick my outfit in the morning, but I wasn’t always confident of leading a team of 20 people. Most of time I would just be a puppet and regurgitate whatever my boss needed to be said or done with the team. I didn’t feel confident some of my suggestions or separate leadership style would bring me success. I wasn’t self-aware of how I presented myself or how my presence affected others around me. I always smiled and was helpful, but I wasn’t a true leader, because I didn’t understand what it meant.
Self-awareness isn’t who you want to be either. It is who you are today. Yes, I believe people and personalities are fluid and we all can change and become so much more than we are today, but I want to start with today. Four months ago, my self-awareness would have been falsified towards who I wish I was, today I know it is definitely who I am. As you can tell, so far, leadership and self-awareness go hand in hand. One does not exist without the other. This is looking beyond the title of your position in a company. You can be a manager with no concept of self-awareness; eventually you will realize your employees do not have 100% confidence in you because you don’t know who you are. This goes for a CEO, CFO, entrepreneur, customer service rep, and janitor.
How do you become more self-aware: take some personality tests. Ask 3 friends to describe your strengths and weaknesses and see the common factors they give you. What are your values? Make a list of things you believe are good and bad. I know this comes across as simple but when you are in an ethical dilemma or working with a difficult employee, in order to remain on the side of success you have to know who you are.
Takeaway: Leadership does not exist without self-awareness. A
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