Leadership is about leading yourself first and foremost

Every day we learn about Leadership discussions in the News. Sometimes it's about Corporate Leaders, sometimes about political leaders, sometimes about Military Leaders or any other leaders. All these leaders represent a group of people and have some kind of decision authority. Our focus is very often on what these leaders decide on behalf of their group. What seems to get forgotten is that leadership is not only about leading others. It starts with leading yourself.  We have to manage ourselves first before we should start thinking about managing others. You have to work on your personal leadership skills before you can become a leader of others. Here are some examples of what I mean by that.

• What are your personal goals? --> Where are you now? Where do you want to go? What do you value most?  (Organization)
• How do you manage your own time?  --> Are you executing around priorities? (Time Management)
• How well do you communiate with others? Do others understand you and buy into what you are saying? --> Are you interested in others? Do you listen? Do you inspire openness and trust? (Communication)
• Do you care about others?  (Emphaty)

Do you have answers for the questions above? Instead of focusing on others focus on yourself first. Work on improving yourself and you will become a better leader. Check the website of former Starbucks CEO Howard Behar's book "It's not about the coffee" to get some interesting perspectives on this topic.