I just returned from the Thrive Leadership Conference, which is one of the finest conferences of its kind in the country. In one of the sessions, Andrew McCourt was speaking about how to increase our leadership capacity. He began with a simple formula: Be Yourself. He began with a quote from Oscar Wilde which stated, “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” This is humorous and very true! We are all created uniquely and we must embrace who we were created to be, not someone else.
Andrew’s formula for this was:
Discover your talents – what can you do better than anything else. We all have gifts and talents that are unique to us. Part of being able to live authentically is to know what those talents are and make the most of them.
Next is training – Andrew said that our talents need exercise. Do something with what you have.
The next part of the formula is theme, meaning that we must answer the question, “What has been the theme of my life?” Think through how you’ve approached life as far back as you can remember and you will be able to discover a theme and a pattern of response, behavior, and passion. To confirm this, ask a close friend or family member what they see as an obvious theme in your life. You may not see it, but you can be sure others do. Once you know your talents and recognize your life’s theme, you can put it to work for you as a leader.
The last encouragement from Andrew was to “Find a way of life you love and have the courage to live it.” This may seem overly simple, but many people struggle to take on the challenge of true authentic living. Think about how you can apply this to your life as a leader. The people who follow you will be glad that their leader is living authentically.
Lead well.