The Basal Of Leadership

Hello!

A friend asked me if there were a few leadership skills that most of my coaching clients came to me for. In fact, there are two: self-knowledge and communication.

I have always been hesitant to share them because I know how they might come across - hyperbolic, simplistic, and artificially controversial. However, I believe these two skills are by far the most critical to good leadership, and all leaders should be working on them. If this rubs you the wrong way, I apologize. I am not trying to be controversial or get likes; please blame my lack of wit, not my will.

Let's dive in.

Skill 1: Self-knowledge

(or call it whatever you see fit - awareness, mastery, talanton ...)

Self-knowledge is like when you are a Honda Civic ...

You know you are a Honda Civic
You accept you are just a Honda Civic
You know how to drive like a Honda Civic
You drive like a Honda Civic
You deliver the most value you can as a Honda Civic

That's self-knowledge - nothing more, nothing less. It's not complicated, but it is complex. To illustrate what being skilled at self-knowledge might look like, here are a few questions:

What are my personal strengths and weaknesses as a leader?
Who is the authentic me? What about my authentic self is useful to me, others, and the team?
What motivates me? What will I find meaningful about my professional career when I am 40, 50, 60, on my deathbed, confessing to my mom, answering my children?
What are my tendencies in how I choose, decide, act, and react?
How can I stay true to my values even in challenging situations? How have I done so far?
How do I come across? How do I want to come across? What are the gaps? How do I feel about the gaps?
How do I behave when I am stressed and under pressure? What about when I am relaxed and in pleasure? What are my coping mechanisms?
What triggers peace and calm in me? What makes me emotionally unhelpful? What are those emotions and how do I regulate them?
How do I manage my resources, from energy to money to time to attention?
How do I stop, start, continue? How do I give up, begin, persist?
What do I know? What do I not know? What do I need to know?

Skill 2: Communication

I know. Communication is broad, and that's precisely why I think all leaders must be working on some aspects of how they communicate. It's the most encompassing skill. I find it useful to look at communication using five segments:

Inform to educate
Influence to convince
Facilitate to resolve
Motivate to inspire
Empathize to relate

I have these five segments in front of me every time I talk to my clients. I use them to guide our investigations. Let me use a few questions to give you an idea:

How can I effectively inform and educate my team on new company policies and procedures?
How can I influence and convince investors or upper management to give me more money, budget, resources, headcounts?
How can I facilitate discussions and debates among team members to resolve conflicts, spark creativity, cultivate trust, and endure candor?
What techniques can I use to motivate and inspire others to want to grow, to have goals, to reach their goals, to achieve great (and difficult) results?
How can I empathize with team members so I am relatable enough to be useful to them?

While there are other important leadership skills, such as strategic thinking, problem-solving, and negotiation, ultimately, self-knowledge and communication are the foundation upon which most other leadership skills are built.

What do you think? I would love to hear your thoughts!

YOU CAN SUPPORT ME:

Reply and chat with me! Tell me what you think of this. Or whatever is on your mind. I will always reply, I guarantee it.

Share this with someone whom you think wants to sound smarter, and or anyone who deserves something light and fun. (Plus, they trust your recommendations more than my LinkedIn ads.)

Thank you for reading this. I think about leadership & psychology in the showers. I know it's odd, but these topics are important and fun. I hope you find them useful too.

Work diligently. You are bound to be successful.

David