In order to create a “self-environment” where I can learn while I lead, what would be the most important principles I should follow? How to continuously grow as a human being and leader
Lara Bezerra, Chief Purpose Officer | WorkCoherence:
There is one characteristic I believe is crucial for all of us to grow –Self-awareness.
I am always looking to be very conscious of how I am evolving and what would help me the most if I would like to work on it.
Knowing yourself, both your strengths and your blind spots are of utmost importance if you want to be a good leader. And it is important to learn that, when the blind spots are identified and worked, you will find other ones which one needs to work on.
Our lives are dynamic and if we are not constantly unlearning and learning, we will not evolve. The complexity of finding blind spots should be coupled with the dynamics of working strongly on your strengths.
Self-compassion is crucial for you when you are able to identify what to improve, and nothing better than to use your strengths to improve them and be proud of them.
I will give one example. My 1st strength (according to the Strength finder), is BELIEVER (not difficult to guess, right?!). Well, this is my strength, at the same time my blind spots is to look for confirmatory biases, which might hinder my ability to make decisions.
One of the important things I started doing this year is to get deeper when people have a different view of what I had. I tried to use the inclusion of diversity when arriving at a decision.
One of my colleagues gave me the tip – “Lara, when you are discussing something that you are passionate about, ask first what others think, check how much these thoughts would add on your own, and try to express your idea, opinion, on top of another person´s idea” (!!!) This is a great advice and I started to use it!
Self-awareness is the key for you to start to balance your strengths to clear, or at least improve a little, your blind spots. Sharing what you are working on, helps others to help you.
Ezilarsan PKP, Co-founder | Thavamani Ventures:
I agree one has to be self aware and be sensitive to what is going around us. Along with self awareness one should also be a good listener. As listening makes us aware of the challenges /problems surrounding us and makes us self aware of the things which we should consider on top priority.
If we do this on a consistent basis, we could understand others’ situations to a certain extent and from that we can analyze & deduce what is happening at the other end. Leading can be an art, but if we apply these two principles ,i.e self awareness and listening we could manage our team in a better way and grow as a well rounded human being which in turn makes us a good leader and gives us an identity- “Leading in a humane way”.
Most of the time, the misunderstanding or miscalculation happens when we are not in tune with our surroundings, but are in our own bubble that has a limited understanding in reality.
My {ezilarsan} strength is to give a chance to everything and hear out with sincerity, as i strongly believe that one can always find opportunities in any challenging situation if we are open to listen and accept that nothing is too small or too big but a window of opportunities, so value it.
When you inculcate this sort of belief the ride becomes smoother and enjoyable where every challenge/problem could be a learning lesson which has come to you to teach something and make you stronger and wiser as the time progresses.