How the Best Leaders Lead: Proven Secrets to Getting the Most Out of Yourself and Others

2

CHAPTER TWO

Leaders Know

Themselves

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‘‘You will eithe r step forward into growth, or you will

step backward into safety.’’

—ABRAHAM MASLOW

The better you know and understand yourself, the better deci-

sions you will make and the better results you will get.

What is the most important and valuable work that you do?

The answer is thinking. The quality of your thinking determines

the quality of your choices and decisions. The quality of your

decisions, in turn, determines the quality of your actions. The

quality of your actions determines the quality of your results, and

the quality of your results determines almost everything that

happens to you, especially in business.

One of the most important words in thinking and action is

consequences. An action is important if it has serious potential

consequences. An action is unimportant if it has few or no poten-

tial consequences.

Your thinking, and the actions you take based on that think-

ing, can have enormous consequences. Your decision to intro-

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HOW THE BEST LEADERS LEAD

duce a new product or service, hire or fire a key person, or make

an investment in a particular area can all have significant conse-

quences.

Perhaps the most powerful stimulant of good thinking is

pointed questions that force you to analyze and decide exactly

what you want and what you are going to do to achieve it. The

questions that follow will not only help you focus on your goals

and aspirations; they will help you to develop greater clarity

about who you really are inside and what is truly important to

you.

These questions are both personal and professional. The suc-

cessful leader is first and foremost a successful person. The best

leaders establish priorities and goals not only for their profes-

sional lives but for their personal lives as well. They know in both

their professional and personal lives what they want, who they

are, who and what is important, where they are going and why,

and what strengths and weaknesses will help or hinder them as

they move forward. The best leaders are complete, balanced,

self-aware, healthy individuals who live their professional and

personal lives by the same rules.

Pay special attention to all of these questions. If your answers

to any of these questions are wrong—if you have the wrong prior-

ities, for example, or lack the self-awareness to know your true

strengths and weaknesses, or pick the wrong skills to develop—

this alone can cause you to make the wrong choices and deci-

sions and sabotage your ability to get the results that are

expected of you.

Answer the following questions:

1. What is your current position?

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LEADERS KNOW THEMSELVES

2. What are the three most important things you do

in your work?

1.

2.

3.

3. How do you measure results, success, and

accomplishment in your work?

1.

2.

3.

4. What are your special abilities and talents?

1.

2.

3.

5. What tasks do you perform especially well?

1.

2.

3.

6. What are your three most important goals in your

work?

1.

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