LEADING ME.

A first principle of leadership is that “the first person I lead is me,” and “the first person you lead is you.” This is because 'self' is the initial target of leadership mastery. Regardless of money, personality, charisma and skills - a person that cannot or does not lead themselves 'well' will (ultimately) prove incapable of leading others effectively. Simon Sinek tells leaders and organizations to ‘start with why,’ AND ‘why starts with the leader.‘ Institutional behaviors don’t change until people behaviors change, but it is equally true that people behaviors don’t change until leadership behaviors change - because leaders are responsible for shaping system culture (which is just 'how we do things around here'). So, sustainable institutional change must be for leaders as much as it is for everyone else. Change that doesn’t begin with leaders will ultimately be short lived because people don’t do (and keep doing) what ‘leaders say’ as much as they do ‘what leaders do.’ We teach what we ‘know,’ but we can only impart who we ‘are.’’ #LeadershipStartsWithMe

Image by wayhomestudio on freepik.com