Leadership & Storytelling Part 6 of Many...

6. Park the Ego

Conviction and self-confidence are key attributes of a leader, and as such they help her develop a healthy ego. However, when ego consumes a leader’s perceptiveness and becomes a tool of power versus inspiration, it has ceased to serve the leader well and has become dangerous to all. Leaders must learn how to draw internal strength from their egos while simultaneously parking them out of the way. Leaders who put others first do so by attending to the egos of others and not to theirs.


Practice

• Reflect on things about yourself (skills, abilities, qualities, experience, knowledge, . . .and so forth) that you are very confident about. Then reflect on areas where you are less sure of yourself. Our egos tend to be more dominant in areas where we lack true self-confidence and self-esteem. Identify these areas in yourself and others, and be watchful. These are the areas where our egos can easily get out of control.

• Give other people the opportunity to take the lead in areas where you have more experience. Act as a coach rather than as a doer all the time.


Be sure to check out my upcoming webinar with Shawn Callahan of Anecdote on August 19th, 2009...

Three Questions We Usually Get from Leaders About Storytelling: Reflections, Discussion & Tools.

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