meets the eye. Say, for example, that you become aware that one of your underlying strengths is that you are extremely competitive. This is a great strength and should be used when right for the situation. You might have known this at some level before, but after doing the strengths exercises, you might find that this could actually be holding you back in certain instances. Accepting this fact may be difficult, and it is essential to you making a change to truly use your leadership powers and accept what you discover in the exercises.
The third step, Choice, might also be challenging for you. Earlier steps will show your awareness and personal commitment, which will in turn ensure your acceptance, but will you make the choice to change your competiveness? Are you truly ready to change that behavior by accepting that only by changing you will get to the next level of leadership? Congratulations to you when you make that choice. Then and only after you have gone through these first three steps will you be able to successfully make a lasting change in your leadership behavior.
The last step, Change, is the final goal. Once you have gone through the first three steps, you might think that change is easy, yet remember the moving of the trash can. Change takes lots of effort over time to really make it a part of you. By going through these first three steps, you can be clear that you have chosen the right change for you, and your change efforts will be highly rewarded.
About You
As you absorb case and client studies in the pages that follow, the exercises in the book will challenge you to recognize the opportunities to lead that you may have not recognized in the past. To that end, have you ever asked yourself something similar to one of these questions?
● Have I ever wanted to stand up and lead someone and did not?
● Have I ever left a meeting wondering why it was someone else who voiced the important point, when I was thinking the same thing all along?
● Have I ever been late in volunteering for a lead role, only to have it given to someone else?
● Have I ever been in the position to take a calculated risk and at the last minute decided against the move?
● Have I ever wanted to be a better leader and not known where to start?
If any of these situations resonate with you, then I would ask you the following questions: What made you hesitate? What got in your way?
As my years of coaching more than 4,000 business professionals in 17 countries shows, the answers have been as varied as the individuals and the industries that they work in. However, the resulting concept is always similar; everyone has a leader within him or her, and with some help, everyone can unleash that leader to become powerful and impactful. That is what this book will show you how to do – unleash your Inner Leader.
In Chapter 2, you will meet Alexandra. As you absorb her story, look for parallels from her experience to apply to yourself. Make the commitment to know yourself, understand your strengths and weaknesses completely, and find clarity about yourself and the value that you have to offer. Peeling back these layers will reveal for you that when you truly know yourself and you have unmistakable clarity on who you are and what your value is, then you become a highly effective business professional, and your Inner Leader will be unleashed.
You and Your Inner Leader Chapter Summary
● This book is the culmination of the real-life experiences that my clients have faced: They have unleashed their Inner Leader to live their legacies and develop into world-class leaders.
● Part One is dedicated to getting to know yourself, because only when you know yourself can you begin to lead others and help others make their own impact.
● Part Two is dedicated to the major topics that my clients have requested coaching on: improving productivity, delegation, mentorship, personal language, networking, interviewing, and living your Leadership Legacy.
● Part Three is inspirational stories about guiding principles, letting go of me to get to us, reflecting on the past to get to the future, and when you become the inspiration.
● When you read this book, completing the exercises is essential. Whether you read it all the way through and then go back to do the exercises or do them as you read, I encourage you to actively participate in the exercises.
● Change is hard. To let your Inner Leader show through, you must be ready to make some changes to your behaviors, your actions, and potentially your beliefs.
● The Change Model consists of four steps: Awareness, Acceptance, Choice, and Change.
● After coaching more than 4,000 business professionals in 17 countries, the resulting concept is always similar: Everyone has a leader within them, and with some help, everyone can unleash their Inner Leader to become powerful and impactful.
Part One
Know Yourself…Authentically
Self-discovery is the key to unleashing your Inner Leader to the world. As shown in Figure 2.1, the first part of unleashing your Inner Leader is to know yourself…authentically. It is amazing that in all of the thousands of business professionals whom I have coached, they do not have clear answers to simple questions, such as:
● What are your top strengths?
● What do you value most?
● What is the most important impact that you make to your organization?
● What is your unique promise of value?
You can expect to discover the answers to these questions in Part One. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of completing the exercises in this part; they will give you the answers to catapult you to higher performance in Part Two. You can do them in any order, and the point is to do them all.
Go ahead; take the plunge into the pool of self-discovery. You will be one of the few leaders who really know themselves and then will be ready to unleash your leadership to the world!
Chapter 2
Strengths: Who Are You?
Successful leaders are adept at identifying and leveraging their strengths and those of their team. A strength is both what you love to do and what you are good at (your interests and your abilities). If you use your strengths in your job, you will gain clarity and get much more return on investment (ROI) on your personal energy. The secret to leadership transparency and authenticity is to find your three strengths and tell people about your strengths at least once a day; in six months others will use your words to describe you. A strength taken too far can be a weakness. You can leverage your strengths in career and professional development, succession planning, performance reviews, prioritizing work and time, and subtle promotion of self and group. Telling others your strengths is the first step to leadership transparency and authenticity; it allows your Inner Leader to emerge.
CaseStudy
Meet Alexandra, a senior manager in the pharmaceutical industry. Alexandra is an introverted, empathetic genetic counselor who has worked very hard to get to the senior level. Her boss wanted to promote her to a director with 130 direct reports, but he refused to pay her the same compensation as her male predecessor. Because of her gentle nature, it was hard for her to ask for equal pay for an equal job done. That was before her leadership coaching.
Alexandra's
