Michal Zeller, the CEO of Direct Impact, explains that true, transformative leadership is not just about leading others but about understanding your authentic self. Building your leadership strengths is in redesigning yourself, breaking down domesticated barriers within you, and connecting with your authenticity.
Transformative leadership: Why you need to embrace your authentic self
Leadership is the process of transformation of oneself and one’s relationships. It is about finding your authentic self and learning how to lead your life accordingly. This requires developing the skills and knowledge to create and maintain a productive, happy, and fulfilled life.
It’s important to remember that we’re all domesticated and trained to become something. This happens through our parents, school, friends, and peers. Everyone goes through a different process and evolves through different experiences.
However, we often let go of vulnerability or individuality to fit in with the people around us. External influences train us to be a certain way, and by the time we’re adults, we may have lost sight of who we are or what matters to us. This can lead to making poor decisions and living an unhealthy lifestyle.
Discover your leadership strengths through commitment
Leadership training isn’t just about acquiring new skills or learning new tools. It’s also about getting clarity on who you are, your vision, and your purpose. Once you have that clarity, you can begin making the necessary changes to achieve your goals.
Most of us lack rigor. It’s the commitment to the commitment. Hitting the snooze button and creating a plan or strategy to finish a project are all examples of incompletion that lead to the feeling of overwhelm.
Our conditioning is to blame. A mask is something we put on to cover up embarrassment. How often have we done something and been laughed at or told to change our behavior? That’s conditioning, being trained to behave a certain way. We put masks on to cover up parts of ourselves, but in doing so, we’re inauthentic. Society tells us to do this, damaging our ability to find our authentic self.
Building your leadership strengths
The scarcity mindset is a significant obstacle to success. When you’re desperate for money, you’re more likely to make bad decisions that lead to even more financial problems. But when you change your relationship with money—when you see it as something to be respected and managed—you can overcome the scarcity mindset and build new habits.
Identifying the habits and attitudes holding you back is essential to breaking through those barriers and achieving your full potential in transformative leadership.
How to become your authentic self
When it comes to creating the life you want, the strategies that got you into the mess in the first place won’t work. If the voice in your head is responsible for where you are, you need to redefine, reset, and rediscover yourself. You are the author of your life, and you have the power to control it. Too often, people wake up and see their life as something that’s happening to them instead of something they’re controlling. If you’re not happy with your life, make a change. You’re the master of your own destiny.
Conclusion: Become a leader worth following through transformative leadership
True leadership, transformative leadership, is about discovering who you are as a person and reconnecting with your individuality and your authentic self. To discover who you are, you must look behind your masks and reflect on the barriers you have in place. Build commitment to yourself and to building your leadership strengths. Once you find your authentic self, the path to happiness is possible.
