The Leadership of Self

Have you noticed that when the issue of leadership is raised or when we generally think of leadership, usually we think first of someone else? If we ever hope to be effective leaders of others, we must first be effective leaders of ourselves. Leading others will be much fun if we master the act of leading ourselves.

Consider what a Clinical Psychologist said about Self-Leadership, He said, “There is a person with whom you spend more
time than any other, a person who has more influence over you and more ability to interfere with or support your growth than anyone else. This ever-present companion is your own self.”

Dr. John Maxwell, the World-Renowned Speaker and Writer wrote about a law called the Law of the Lid where he explains that one’s personal effectiveness is determined by the level of one’s leadership. In another word, he was saying that a man’s effectiveness in life is determined by his level of influence, first on himself and then on others.

You might want to ask: What do you mean by the leadership of self? Or, What is Self-Leadership? In practice, Self-Leadership has been broadly defined as the process of influencing oneself to establish the self-direction and self-motivation needed to perform. Research across a variety of settings, from the educational domain to the airline industry, has shown that the practice of effective self-leadership by employees can lead to a plethora of benefits including improved job satisfaction, self-efficacy and mental performance.

Dee Hock, the founder of VISA also suggested of Self-Leadership. He said, “If anyone wants to lead, he must spend 50% of his energy leading himself, 20% of his energy leading his superiors, 15% leading his peers and 15% leading his subordinates.”
Incredible, isn’t it? To lead others, he suggested that you must first pay 50% of your energy to leading yourself. This cannot be over-emphasized knowing that if you can dedicate 50% of your energy to leading yourself, you can effectively lead others with less amount of energy.
Now the question is: How do I lead Myself?

Let me suggest to you to start engaging the vectors of leadership in you.
What are these vectors?

• The Vector of Knowledge
• The Vector of Vision and
• The Vector of Implementation or Execution.

The vector of knowledge talks about getting to know who you are and to be happy being it. For example, I got to understand my effective reading style during my undergraduate study. My friends usually wonder why I don’t study in class like most of our classmates does, including themselves. I used to do most of my reading at night, usually between 11pm and 5am.This is because I would not understand whatever I read in class during the day except I wanted people to think of me as being one exceptionally studious student.
You must seek the knowledge of yourself and not to be like someone else.

The vector of vision talks about seeing a desired future for yourself.
Dr John Haggai once said that the principle of vision is the key to understanding leadership. Without vision, there is no leadership. The bible has shown the way much earlier when it reads that my people are destroyed for lack of vision.

Do you remember the words of Helen Keller about vision? She said, “There is nothing so tragic as a man with sight but without vision.”

The vector of Implementation talks about setting goals and action plans. There is usually a place of preparation in leading oneself effectively. You must remember that nothing happens by accident. Learn to recognize resources around you and always prepare for change.

I must not forget to tell you these 2 things in your self-leadership process:
Number One (1). You must be a lifelong learner. Surround yourself with mentors and people smarter than yourself. Seek also to be continually inspired.
And two (2), Care for and about people. This way, people will choose you to lead them.

Bill Hybels rightly concluded by saying: “Your toughest management challenge is always yourself” Therefore, I challenge you to work on your level of leadership.”