Lead One, Lead Many

By: Andy Fry, Renogize Coach & Director of Operations

Much has been written about the difference between IQ and EQ but one of the most profound, yet completely intuitive, statistics I have come across was from “Emotional Intelligence 2.0” by Bradberry and Greaves: People with average IQ’s out-performed people with high IQ’s 70% of the time!  We all know this though, right?  People who know themselves well and play well with others tend to be the most successful.

I like to use a simple phrase when talking about the importance of self-leadership.  “If you can lead one, you can lead many.  If you can’t lead one, you can’t lead any.”  Essentially, if you can learn to identify where you excel and mitigate the negative effects where you struggle, you will raise your ceiling of leadership.  Put differently, if you can cultivate your strengths to be able to leverage them when addressing your weaknesses, you can also coach others to do the same.  Conversely, how can we hope to lead and influence others, if we aren’t able to influence ourselves?

What are your self-identified three greatest strengths as a leader?  Go ahead, write them down.  Now aim those strengths at a challenge that you are currently facing.  How can you leverage the greatness inside of you to overcome obstacles and barriers presented by areas of leadership where you aren’t as strong?  Analytical with low empathy?  Listen intently to the words being used and learn to study the body language of the people you are communicating with.  Strong ambition with low patience?  Apply your ambition toward understanding the abilities of those around you and modifying your pace appropriately.

Leaders can be judged by how effective they are at influencing behaviors.  Unlocking your ability to modify your own actions could be the key to doing the same for your team around you.