Episode 31: Leadership from the Inside Out
It’s Pixie Dust!
Self-awareness - that is. To get the results you really want and be the leader you really want to be - it starts from the inside.
Enjoy!
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(The notes below are only a brief summary of what is discussed in the podcast. Be sure to listen to get all of the goodness! If you would like a full transcription of the episode, please send an email request to: angie@angie-robinson.com. We’d be happy to provide that!)
In the podcast intro, I say “it’s leadership from the inside out, and it’s pure magic…”. Let me tell you more about what I mean!
First, it is a slight nod to the The Disney/Pixar movie - “Inside Out”. I love this movie so much! I love how it emulates a sliver of the self-awareness work I talk about. If you aren’t familiar - The story of Inside Out centers on an 11-year-old girl named Riley who moves from Minnesota to San Francisco and her five emotions Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust. and Anger who are trying to help her cope with her new life. The five emotions live in headquarters (her brain) and control how Riley feels. The emotions are charged with reacting to Riley's circumstances and forming her memories - the most important of which are called core memories.
Each emotion also has a defined purpose in Riley's life: Joy makes sure she is happy, Fear keeps her safe, Anger keeps her life fair and Disgust prevents her from being poisoned, both physically and socially. No-one understands the purpose of Sadness, as all she seemingly does is make Riley feel bad. As a result, she is constantly ignored and kept from using the Headquarters controls, mainly by Joy, who prefers to keep Riley happy as much as possible.
To hear more about feelings + leadership - take a listen to Episode 26. I love one of the main messages of this movie being that it’s not about trying to avoid uncomfortable feelings but rather go towards them and process them.
So again, the movie inspires my inside out approach, but what it is really about is starting inside to become your best leadership self first - and that will impact the outside (how people react and how you impact your team and organization).
Inside means understanding and having clarity about:
who you are
your personality preferences
your values
the experiences that shape beliefs (about self, leadership, workplaces, other people…)
how your brain works and your conscious vs. unconscious brains
perceptions (your way isn’t necessarily the ‘right’ way)
how your thoughts create your results (the Model) and how to manage those thoughts
your goals and future self
The out is how you will impact:
individuals
teams
the organization
others outside of the workplace
Starting with the inside and elevating self-awareness will help make those leadership development topics and trainings even more effective. It will help with connecting with other people more effective. It will produce better results.
Self-awareness is an essential trait of a great leader. By knowing your values, personality, needs, habits and emotions, and how they affect your actions and the actions of others, you'll be better able to manage your stress, make better decisions and ultimately lead others to do the same.
You can have the best leadership development trainings, time management systems, engagement survey action planning templates, etc. but not ever leader has mastered those skills. That is typically because there is a layer beneath the surface that can be unearthed through self-awareness.
Self-awareness is pixie dust for making the most of our leadership and our lives… and the inside out approach is in support of that.
What do you think?
How do you think taking the inside out approach might impact YOUR own leadership, life and results?
How do you take an inside out approach with those you lead?
How would your organization benefit from an inside out approach to leadership development?
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