Page 24 - Free Yourself From

Know Yourself—Be Yourself 7

There are hundreds of books on this topic in bookstores and
probably on your shelf at home or in the office. But, there is more to
it than just knowing yourself—there’s also being yourself.
Identifying and being yourself is critical for great leaders and a
chief reason why they succeed or derail. I believe that the ability to
know and be yourself has a direct correlation to your ability to have
an impact on things around you and create results that matter to you
and your team, customers, organization, family, and community.
Having a critical awareness of your motivations and intentions
channels your behaviors in the right direction and ensures that you
are always taking the right small steps toward those big-picture goals.
Maybe you want that next promotion, or to influence key customers
on a proposal, or have a difficult conversation with your boss about
why you can’t take on that next project. Knowing why you do or
don’t want to do these things, and where you ultimately want them
to get you, will help you to motivate yourself and persevere.
The exercises and liberating solutions I will provide, along with
my story and those of other women, will help you to develop this self-
knowledge that is fundamental to successful leadership. This book
should help you to know yourself, understand your strengths and
weaknesses, get clear on your goals, face your greatest fears, and use
this new inventory of knowledge to develop a personal action plan.
Along the way you will discern, assess, and perhaps reframe your
personal belief system, break free of old patterns that are undermin-
ing your success, and learn how to take control of your future.

How Do You Get to Know Yourself?

Leaders who don’t have internal self-awareness peak soon after
they’ve gotten the top jobs; or worse, derail their careers before they
even get close. Why? When you know who you are and are true to
that, your actions and reactions are consistent. As a result, others feel