Your Leadership Story

Written by Laurie Hillis

Hi, I’m Laurie Hillis, I love what I do: the learning, the process, and above all, seeing how my clients grow as leaders.

0

September 2, 2020

I often start my leadership sessions by inquiring where people got their definitions of leadership.  And how do they define themselves as leaders is my follow-up question. It’s not always easy for people to put words to these questions.

How do you tell your leadership story? How can you draw on your origins to become a more adaptable leader that’s needed for the future?  And if you are a formal leader, how do you cultivate different types of leaders in your organization so they can have diverse stories within your culture?

Here are some questions to guide you on your leadership story creation:

In a recent HBR article the authors discovered that when people share their stories they often think about their narrative through one of four lenses, see if one resonates for you:

LensOriginal Leadership StoryCurrent Leadership Story
1This is thinking “I have always thought of myself as a leader”. It felt natural and started early in life.They describe their leadership style noting “personal qualities, such as confidence, optimism and inspiration”.
2This is facilitating others and activities. Leadership emerged when they had to “address an urgent need”.They describe themselves as engaging in a “facilitative leadership style, engaging others and enabling actions”.
3This is about achievement of a position, a strong sense of duty and responsibility for othersThey describe themselves as having a “paternalistic leadership style, using control, support and guidance of their team”.
4This is about realizing they had followers so that made them a leader before they even knew what it was all about.These leaders lean toward “supporting or serving the needs of others above themselves”.

The lenses are:

Lens 1: Being
Lens 2: Engaging
Lens 3: Performing
Lens 4: Accepting

Whether it’s reflecting back to review your original leadership story or getting curious about how your story may need to change to suit new circumstances, I find this a helpful structure.

Contact me today if you’d like to know more about how I support my clients to explore their leadership narratives.

Source: “What’s Your Leadership Origin Story” by Meister, Zheng and Barker Caza.

Let’s connect:

If you want to know more about Megatrain and how we can work together, drop me a line:

5 + 12 =

You May also Like

A Neuroscience Hack for Leaders Under Pressure

A Neuroscience Hack for Leaders Under Pressure

If you’ve ever experienced moments of intense stress, panic, or anxiety and have failed to successfully employ the typical techniques of calming the f down (deep breathing, closing your eyes, planting your feet firmly on the ground), it can feel like you’re just going to have to live with the fact that these moments are going to hijack your mind and body as often as they like.

Adapt or Die Trying. Why Your Workplace Environment is Key

Adapt or Die Trying. Why Your Workplace Environment is Key

If you’ve read my last two blogs and your interest is piqued, I hope you’ll find this final one on the topic of Adaptability Quotient (AQ) as interesting as I did researching it. AQ blog #1, Navigating the Fastest Period of Change in History, introduced the AQ concept, acknowledged the current period that is calling on us to adapt relentlessly, and explored the first key element of human’s capacity to do so: Ability. Then, in AQ blog #2, The Human Side of Adaptability, I highlighted the second – very human – key element of Character.

The Human Side of Adaptability

The Human Side of Adaptability

Following our exploration of Ability in my previous blog about the Adaptability Quotient (AQ), it’s time to venture into another dimension: Character.

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Malcare WordPress Security