Recognizing when others are struggling — and showing them that you’re in the battle right alongside them — is key to being an effective leader.
Recognizing when others are struggling — and showing them that you’re in the battle right alongside them — is key to being an effective leader.
As I reflect on the past few years, I’ve come to realize just how crucial self-awareness is to effective leadership. It’s not something I figured out early on. Far from it. In fact, it’s taken me a lot of time and a fair share of mistakes to understand that being a leader isn’t about being bulletproof. It’s about being real.
In the early days of my career, I thought I had to be invincible, that everyone around me needed to see me as a rock —unshakable and flawless. The truth is, none of us are bulletproof, and pretending to be only sets us up for failure. The people around us can see through that façade, and it does more harm than good.
What I’ve learned is that by sharing my strengths and weaknesses openly, I’ve built stronger relationships with my team. They step up, they help out, and they’re willing to fight alongside me because they see I’m in the trenches with them. It’s this transparency that creates a space where everyone feels safe to do the same.
It’s not just about allowing people to fail; it’s about helping them understand that failure is a necessary part of success. If we’re not failing, we’re not pushing ourselves hard enough. And when the person at the wheel — the leader — messes up, it’s a powerful reminder that failure is not the end — it’s a step on the path to growth.
I wish I could say I figured this out when I was in my 20s, but I didn’t. What brought it to the forefront now is seeing many of my team members, and others in the industry, still struggling to shake off the COVID funk. I went through it too — I had to pull myself out, regain my groove, and find my mojo again.
Someone once told me that those who can pull themselves up by their bootstraps have a responsibility to help others do the same. That advice stuck with me, and it got me thinking: how do you get someone to develop self-awareness, to recognize their strengths and weaknesses?
That’s what led us to recently launch our personal growth plans(PGPs). These plans aren’t just about improving job performance; they’re about helping our employees grow in every aspect of their lives. I believe that success leads to happiness, and a happy team is worth its weight in gold. In my mind, a successful team and a happy team are almost interchangeable. I don’t know any unsuccessful teams that are genuinely happy — those two things just don’t coexist.
When I laid out my PGP, I didn’t just focus on professional goals. I also mapped out a path for myself as a husband, father, brother, son, friend, and community member. These are roles I wear with pride, but I realized I wasn’t always proactive enough in thinking about how I could improve on them.
It’s not always easy to face the fact that you’re falling short in some areas, but the only way to fix it is to make a change. There’s an old saying: the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, but the second-best time is today. We can’t go back and fix what wasn’t addressed in the past, but we can start working on it now.
Self-awareness requires time for reflection — time without distractions. For me, that often comes during driving time or on a plane. It’s in those quiet moments that I can really think about where I’m at, where I’m falling short, and what I need to do to improve. It’s not about being perfect; it’s about being better than I was yesterday.
Now, I challenge you to think about why these outcomes matter to you. We all have room to grow, and by being open about our own journeys, we can help those around us grow, too.
At the end of the day, leadership isn’t about being invincible. It’s about being human, being real, and being willing to grow alongside your team. That’s where true strength lies.
