“If you look to lead, invest at least 40% of your time managing yourself – your ethics, character, principles, purpose, motivation and conduct.”
—Dee Hock, founder and former CEO of Visa credit card association
“But I don’t have time!” you might say.
Hock would say that managing yourself is the way to manage your time. If you do it – genuinely – you’ll be amazed at all the things that take care of themselves. .
Leaders who have taken the time and made the effort to know themselves:
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lean in with their natural strengths and skills
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are in a learning mode, knowing truly that humility is an asset
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pause and ask how they might have contributed to challenges they face
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stop to think before reacting, knowing how to step in and when to hang back
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can recognize counterproductive patterns in their leadership
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realize that self-care helps things go right
Continual self-awareness is an essential leadership power.
