The Self-Awareness Gap
Want to be a better leader?
It starts with knowing yourself.
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Self-awareness is your secret weapon—helping you play to your strengths, own your blind spots, and lead with confidence.
Let’s talk about how to level up!
A handful of years ago, I read a fantastic book by organizational psychologist, Dr. Tasha Eurich.
Dr. Eurich and her team undertook a large-scale scientific study of self-awareness, finding that while 95% of people think that they're self-aware, only about 10-15% actually are.
You've likely heard me say before that self-awareness may the single most important leadership attribute, as it is foundational to or intersects with nearly every competency that drives professional performance.
What is self-awareness?
- Self-awareness is the ability to understand, very accurately and thoroughly, who you are. Your strengths, weaknesses, blind spots, biases, motivations, values, how you make decisions, how you build relationships, etc. and how that is like or different from those around you.
- Self-awareness also includes understanding how others perceive you. Again, accurately.
Why is self-awareness important?
- Research has shown that self-aware people perform better at work, get more promotions, and lead more effectively.
Here's the good news - dressed up in work boots.
Self-awareness is a skill that can be developed.
- Practice self-awareness consistently.
- Ask yourself questions like "what went well today?" - "what didn't?" - "what could I do differently tomorrow?"
- Seek out and surround yourself with people who can and will give you objective and actionable feedback.
- Put that feedback into practice.
- Rinse and repeat.
I'M ROOTING FOR YOU!