Mar

16

Leaders are originals, not copies…!

Filed Under Leadership Practices, Personal Leadership 

“The more you are like yourself, the less you are like anyone else, which makes you unique.” — Walt Disney

Warren Bennis one of my favourite leadership authors, in his book "On Becoming a Leader", he discusses how leaders are originals and not copies. To be an original, a leader must know and understand what and who he is. In the book Warren spends time talking about how important it is to understand who we are, some of his insights….

"Leaders have nothing but themselves to work with…. we are our own raw material. Only when we know what we’re made of and what we want to make of it can we begin our lives - and we must do it despite an unwitting conspiracy of people and events against us….. To become a leader, then, you must become yourself, become the maker of your own life….. Know thyself, then, means separating who you are and who you want to be from what the world thinks you are and wants you to be….. Until you make your life your own, you’re walking around in borrowed clothes."

These are great insights. We too often either go with the flow or adapt ourselves to the environment, and if we do this too often, eventually we lose ourselves.

 

  • How are you doing in his area?
  • Do you spend time reflecting on who you are and who you want to be?
  • Are you striving to become more of who you are?
  • Are you an original? Are you unique?

 

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3 Responses to “Leaders are originals, not copies…!”

  1. Christine on March 17th, 2008 14:11

    Here is another great snippet of Warren discussing great leaders

    http://www.linkageinc.com/disl/preview_demo.aspx?a=faaf0e25-69c8-49c1-9206-8abdd30cbd95

  2. Thommy Bommen on March 22nd, 2008 20:33

    This is really a nice post! It is probably one of the hardest task a person has. To be himself.

    I recently talked to a old schoolmate of mine about issues like these. He had a totally different take on this issue. He was of the understanding that if he became what other expected he would “win”. He would not only change his ways to the “better”, but he would adapt better to the world around him.

    After a quite long discussion on the matter I settled with the notion that he had low self esteem and that he blamed earlier failures on the way he was as himself.

    That got me thinking, It’s better to be that odd fellow instead of just floating between being whoever you meet and try to imitate them.

    I’ll get myself that book, thanks George!

  3. The importance of context for successful leadership | The Practice of Leadership on June 24th, 2008 21:49

    [...] and become like our leadership hero’s, instead of seeking to become more of who we are, to be original’s and not copies. What traits and factors that made a leader great in the past, will not necessarily make the leader [...]

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