With Awareness Comes Choice

Self-awareness is a foundation of inspiring leadership. A leader who embodies self-awareness might look like someone who carefully considers their actions before taking them, or their words before speaking them. A self-aware leader is someone who makes you feel comfortable and who seems at home in their skin in any room, with any audience.

A self-aware leader is honest, both with themselves and with the people around them. They have a clear picture of who they are and what their strengths and weaknesses are, and this picture matches up with the perception and experiences of the people around them.

One of the primary underpinnings of coaching is to help clients build their self-awareness for the sake of achieving the outcomes they’re looking for in their work and life. I often find myself saying to clients, “with awareness comes choice.” That is, once they begin to see more clearly, they suddenly realize there are choices available to them that they might not have even recognized before. Making those new choices will lead to satisfying new outcomes. And that’s what coaching is all about – helping clients get from where they are to where they want to be.