Know Who You Are

The mantle of leadership involves more than just power. Great leaders use their knowledge of people and situations to analyse certain characteristics needed to accomplish their organisation’s goals, so everyone succeeds.

I have outlined a wisdom leadership profiling psychology they don’t teach at Harvard – to quickly identify a person’s strengths, weaknesses, or lessons to be learned and more. A number of corporations around the world are now using this profiling system to better match a given candidate’s skills and knowledge to specific requirements of each important role within the company.

Know thyself

This system is not only helping HR departments better fit staff to jobs, it is also providing people in leadership positions the opportunity to profile their own strengths, weaknesses and blind spots, so they come away knowing more about who they are and who they are not — after just an hour of profiling themselves with the 8 Types of Leaders’ methodologies. The foray also gives executives an edge over the competition in their organisation and the career arena.

One of the most vulnerable situations for any leader is not knowing their own weakness[es]. Even if they are not comfortable reflecting on this part in themselves, it is likely their family, boss, subordinates, co-workers and competitors are well aware of their blind spots.

Identifying who they are and who they are not enables more enlightened leaders to stay centred in the face of pressures from their superiors and those whom they manage – no matter the personality types involved.

Some examples of my leadership types are as follows: Type 1s tend to be driven by power; Type 2s tend to respond to love and inclusiveness; Type 3s are businesspeople and philosophers; Type 4s are born entertainers and are great at promotion; Type 5s the law, science and technical types; Type 6s are the most loyal employees, or leaders who will die for a cause, boss or ideal; Type 7s love order and structure and create systems. People who have mastered the qualities of three or more leadership types are classified as Type 8.

This understanding helps leaders maintain neutrality in the centre of the Trinity of Creativity [Read this column: CW, March 2007], which balances will power, love and creative intelligence, and provides them the greatest opportunity to influence positive outcomes in any situation, whether at home or work.

Awareness meditation

How do you quiet your mind enough to profile yourself, your boss, co-workers, competitors, or family members, accurately without your perceptions being coloured by biases resulting from past resentments or fears? My idea of Awareness Meditation Technique is a good tool. It guides people bypass the clutter and noise of their minds in 10 minutes. It’s good to practice this twice a week to stay mentally sharp and emotionally clear.

• Sit in a chair with your feet flat on the floor, or practice a yoga asana [pose]
• Use the Dhyani Mudra by placing your right hand over the left hand at the navel
• Practice Synchronised Breathing [Read this column: CW, November 2006], by inhaling deeply and rapidly as you pull your head up towards the ceiling and quickly nod your head down as you exhale rapidly. Do this 10 times. Avoid this step if you have neck problems.
• Now concentrate on
  • The heart [Anahata] for emotionally sensitivity and inner peace
  • The forehead [Bindu] for inner impressionability
  • The top of the head [Sahasrara] for higher consciousness and greater detachment

Repeat 2-5 times to become reflexively aware.