I ended my original article in this series with a challenge for readers to give themselves an honest assessment on a scale of 1 to 3 for each of the 11 Leadership Principles I am covering. I am going to share my own personal assessment for each of the principles with the hope that you will be encouraged to do the same for yourself. You can download a blank copy of the "scorecard" by CLICKING HERE
Leadership Principle #1 – Know Yourself and Seek Self Improvement
How well do you know yourself, your limitations, your strengths and your weaknesses? The fact that “Know yourself and seek self-improvement” is listed first can’t be a coincidence. Since leadership starts with “you”, it is imperative that you know yourself best, above all other things. If you are not aware of your strengths and weaknesses you will never become the leader you were meant to be and your company will never be what it was meant to be or could be. How well do you know yourself? Not sure? Check out Kolbe.com and test yourself. How much time and effort do you put into self-improvement?
Since this had two pretty important segments, I graded myself on each. I believe that I know myself pretty well so I gave myself a 4, but I do not invest as much time in self-improvement as I should so I gave myself a 3 in self-improvement.
Leadership Principle #2 – Be Technically Proficient
It is obviously critical that we understand our responsibilities, but we also must understand those of our team members. If we do not know their responsibilities, we will not know if they are properly trained, the right person for the job or if they are performing their role appropriately.
When I looked at my various areas of responsibility I had to score myself a 3 because there are areas that are critical to the success of my business that I am not technically proficient at currently, so more training needed.
Leadership Principle #3 – Seek Responsibility and Take Responsibility for Your Actions
This is the one Principle out of the 11 that I have always remembered. It was on my resume for years. It may still be there, but I have not looked at my resume in quite some time. A leader must take responsibility for his/her action and he/she must want the responsibility in the first place. Who is going to follow a leader who blames everyone else when something goes wrong?
I gave myself a 5 on this one.
Now it is your turn. Take a few minutes and score yourself on these first 3 leadership principles. If you want an independent assessment, take the Kolbe test. I'll be covering the rest of the principles next week.