PPB August 2019

From these experiences, I learned a valuable lesson and it’s backed up by the experiences of others and by research. The most effective way to improve leadership effectiveness is to focus on personal development because those efforts enhance every area of our lives and give us a greater capacity to handle anything life throws at us. What Is Personal Development? Here’s what I consider to be the main areas of personal growth and why each is so important: 1 Identifying and developing innate talents tomaximize productivity and effectiveness. It’s common not to realize your true, innate talents due to distorted perceptions about yourself and messages you receive from others. You often don’t use your gifts because you don’t know they exist. But when you recognize your talents and align your work with them, you are set up to succeed. It doesn’t make sense to grind away at a job that provides limited enjoyment or satisfaction. Also, your current age doesn’t need to be a deterrent to shifting careers. Many well-known successes have been documented about people who made career changes in their 50s, 60s and 70s. The same principles apply to all of us regardless of age. 2 Increasing awareness and acceptance of ourselves and others. This is often referred to as “emotional intelligence.” Everything starts with our self- awareness and acceptance. If we’re highly critical of ourselves, we’ll tend to remain unaware. This is because the human psychological systemwants to protect us from the discomfort of self-criticism. We cannot intentionally change something unless we’re aware of it. For example, I have a habit of binge- eating junk food and it continues until I become self-aware of what’s causing me to do this. When I become aware and understand this happens when I’m feeling down, I can choose to consider options other than binge-eating. 3 The ability tomanage our egos. This means putting desired outcomes ahead of emotional responses and impulses. This has been a real struggle for me. I grew up obsessed with how others viewed me and was overly sensitive to negative feedback regardless of the intent to help me. This led me to be hypersensitive to constructive criticism. As I’ve worked through this challenge, countless doors have opened for me. 4 Openly working on our weaknesses so they don’t become the limiting factors in our success. Everything starts with the willingness to be open and honest with ourselves. When we’re honest, we become more self-aware, and we can accept the support of others for feedback and accountability. Trying to hide our weaknesses doesn’t make sense, since they’re obvious to others anyway. That’s why developing the skill of being authentic and vulnerable is so crucial. People will connect with and respect you more when you’re willing to be vulnerable. Research has shown that people connect more on vulnerabilities (courageous openness) rather than strengths. Think about it. Do you feel more connected and trusting with people who are real with you about their struggles, or with those who pretend they excel at everything and constantly tout their greatness? Become The Leader You Want To Be When you consider each of these personal development areas, it becomes clear they are the same characteristics that lead to leadership success. In fact, leadership development and personal development are one and the same. A deficiency in any one of these areas can derail your career success. The best part about making personal development the means to your leadership development growth is that every area of your life will improve as a result. It’s like two for the price of one and puts you in control of your quality of life. Since I made personal development my No. 1 focus, I’ve achievedmuch greater success in my professional life with less stress andmore job satisfaction. Based onmy observations and those of others, this seems to be the general rule. My invitation is for you to consider which areas of your personal development need work and then consider taking small steps forward tomaximize your potential and performance. Brad Wolff is a speaker specializing in leadership development to increase productivity, profitability and engagement, and is the author of People Problems? How to Create People Solutions for a Competitive Advantage . www.PeopleMaximizers.com , bwolff@peoplemaximizers.com Themost effectiveway to improve leadership effectiveness is to focus onpersonal development because those efforts enhance every area of our lives and give us a greater capacity to handle anything life throws at us. | AUGUST 2019 | 63 THINK