Marine Leadership Principle of the Day: KNOW YOURSELF

           There are actually two parts to to this Leadership Principle: 1) Know Yourself and 2) Seek Self Improvement.  As a Leader, it is your responsibility to know and better your people – this process begins with yourself.

            The importance of self knowledge is not a new concept.  Socrates and Aristole both stressed that you had to “Know Thyself.”  Lao Tzo said that while it is wisdom to know others, it “is enlightenment to know one’s self.”  Unfortunately, over the past 2500 years, many of us have forgotten the importance of knowing ourselves before we begin to learn and do other things.

              The first step in becoming a truly great leader is to truly know yourself.  Knowing yourself means you know your strengths and weaknesses – this allows you play to your strengths and to improve your weaknesses.  We all have flaws and weaknesses, and, if you don’t know what they are, guess who does?  Your people.  No one will know a leader’s shortcomings better than the people who work for him.  

            This means that if you do not know your weaknesses, you cannot improve them, and they will continually be exposed to your people.  Having demonstrable weaknesses will compromise your abiilty to lead.  Unless, your people see you actively improving on your weaknesses – this shows them that you are aware and are seeking self-improvement, which will make you a better leader. 

So, how can we know ourselves?  There are several ways you can learn more about yourself.  Before discussing a list though, we need to discuss humilty.  More than a touch of humilty is necessary for this process.  Leaders tend to be confident – and they need to be, but confidence cannot become arrogance.  When it does, you can no longer be self-aware, and you can no longer be a leader.  So, when you are ready to take a long look in the mirror and scruntinize yourself, take a deep breath, bring on a healthy dose of humilty and look for the flaws.

When you are ready, click through for some ideas on how to learn more about yourself.

There are several ways a leader can learn more about herself, here a some suggestions:

Conduct an honest evaluation – Pretend you are writing an evaluation on yourself, how would you rate yourself?  Determine your strong and weak personal qualities and evaluate them like you would rate your subordinates.  Make sure you are honest with yourself – both good and bad. 

Seek the Honest Opinions of Peers and Superiors – Ask the people you work with and for what they think about your leadership ability and what they think you are doing well and where you need to improve.  If your leader is good, they are doing this anyway, if not, make sure you ask for it.  Peers are a great source of information.  They are doing similar jobs in a similar role, so they are likley watching to see what you are doing well and not so well.  Get (and respect) their opinions. 

Encourage Feedback – Have an oen door policy and let your people give you feedback on how things are running.  Now, there is a difference between encouraging feedback and asking directly how you are doing.  If you go to your people and ask too often, you will come across as unsure of yourself and lacking confidence.  Allowing them to voice their concerns, however, shows that you are confident enough in yourself to accept criticism.

Track Your Decisions – Track your decisions and how they pan out.  Peter Drucker wrote, “Whenever you make a decision or take a key decision, write down what you expect will happen. Nine or 12 months later, compare the results with what you expected.” Drucker called this self-reflection process feedback analysis and credited it to a 14th-century German theologian. He said it was the “only way to discover your strengths.” Many successful people follow similar practices: Warren Buffett, for example, has made it a habit for years to write down the reasons why he is making an investment decision and later look back to see what went right or wrong.

The pillow is optional

Set Regular Reflection Time – Once a day, once a week, whatever works for you, sit down and ponder the previous few days.  Reflect on what decisions you made or how you behaved in certain circumstances and use hind-sight to evaluate how you did. 

These are a handful of approaches that can help a leader develop his self-awareness.  Once you do, you learn your weaknesses, and you can begin to improve.  That is the whole key of this process, you know yourself so you can improve yourself.  And that is the key to great leadership, you push and better yourself.  Once you stop growing, you will soon stop leading. 

So, take out that mirror, take a long, hard look, and learn where you need to get better.