“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 and 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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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!
Great post,Infact i have really enjoyed every bit of it. However being one’s self can be of great challenge sometimes and this is brought a bout through the influence of peoples around us. As leadership demands influencing people.Thus the opposite can also be true.
My opinion is that the style of one’s leadership can be influenced with so many factors depending on the environment,education e.t.c,Not necessarily on your own ability.All these works simultaneously to achieve the best leadership required by the people you lead.
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