Page 28 - Free Yourself From

Chapter 2

Taking Action for Knowing

and Being Yourself

The Value of Self-Awareness

In the first chapter, I talked about the importance of knowing your-
self and the notion that if you don’t have that awareness it will be
hard for you to know where you might get stuck. So now, I want to
build on that concept and talk about the “how” of knowing yourself.
Over the past 16 years, my organization has worked with thou-
sands of leaders from a cross-section of industries, such as financial
services, technology, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, biotech, lodg-
ing, retail, nonprofit, government, and professional services. We are
in the business of helping people learn and develop as great leaders.
To do that, SHAMBAUGH starts from the premise that leadership is
not just what you do, but also who you are.
SHAMBAUGH’s research indicates, over and over again, that the
number one factor that distinguishes highly effective leaders is self-
awareness. We are seeing that more and more organizations are rec-
ognizing the value of self-awareness and are increasing the
opportunities and experiences to enhance the self-awareness of their

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