Much of what we think of as the business of business takes place externally. Tangible activities like striking deals, formulating plans and launching initiatives fill our days and constitute the prism through which we view and understand our work life.
But business authorities, academics, and thinkers have long suggested that the most fertile field for leadership attention is the inner world of values and understandings. Time and again they have suggested that importance be placed not only on what leaders do, but on how they think and what they believe.
Here, they say, are the fundamental criteria by which we act and react. Surely it is not insignificant that the first special-issue edition in the 79-year history of Harvard Business Review was themed “Breakthrough Leadership: Why Knowing Yourself is the Best Strategy Now.”
What you do, in other words, is a reflection of who you are. Every action you take as a leader is a direct reflection of your values, attitudes, beliefs, and mental models. Every behavior you manifest, every goal you pursue, every choice you make is directly shaped by some element of who you are.
The connection between internal being and external engagement is of extraordinary importance. This is true for our supervisors, but it is equally true for ourselves in regards to our own subordinates.
Whatever leadership capacity we hold, the influence of our internal landscape is enormous. Our conceptions of work, responsibility, loyalty, obedience—the list is endless— shape our minute-by-minute choices in interacting with employees, conceiving policies, and making leadership decisions.
Becoming an effective leader, therefore, involves more than strategies and approaches. It requires seeing ourselves for the human beings we truly are, willingly and committedly making a practice of looking inside to see both that of which we are proud and that which we would change.