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THE IMPORTANCE OF SELF-KNOWLEDGE AND INNER RESOURCES

Much is expected of a leader throughout a change process. It takes courage, a sense of purpose, the ability to manage your emotions, high integrity and a wide range of skills to lead change well. A great deal has been written about skills development, but what about self-knowledge and inner resources? How great a part does the inner life of the leader play in his or her ability to lead change, and how can this capacity be developed or improved?

We believe that this is the key to successful leadership; so does Daniel Goleman. See above to read about his research into leadership success which indicates that self-awareness forms the bedrock of the emotionally intelligent leader.

Bennis: the role of self-knowledge

Warren Bennis (1994) emphasizes the need to know yourself in order to become a good leader. He says that leaders must have self-knowledge if they want to be freed up sufficiently to think in new ways. Bennis claims that you make your life your own by understanding it, and become your own designer, rather than being designed by your own experience. He itemizes four lessons of self-knowledge. These are:

One: be your own teacher. Leaders assume responsibility for their own learning, and treat it as a route to self-knowledge and self-expression. No one can teach them the lessons they need to learn. Stumbling blocks can be denial and blame.
Two: accept responsibility and blame no one. Do not expect other people to take charge, or do things for you.
Three: you can learn anything you want to learn. Leadership involves a kind of fearlessness, an optimism and a confidence.
Four: true understanding comes from reflecting on your experience. Leaders make reflection part of their daily life. An honest look at the past prepares you for the future.

Bennis also notes the potential benefits of leaders recalling their childhoods honestly, reflecting on them, understanding them, and thereby overcoming the influence that childhood has on them. He quotes Erikson, the famed psychoanalyst, who says that there are eight stages of life each with an accompanying crisis (see Table 4.8). Erikson claims that the way in which we resolve the eight crises determines who we will be. He also notes that we may get stuck at a particular stage if we do not manage to solve the crisis satisfactorily. For instance many of us never overcome the inner struggle between initiative and guilt, and so we lack purpose.

Table 4.8: Development stages and their challenges
Stage	Crisis	Resolution	Conditions for optimal development
Infancy (0–18 months)	Trust vs mistrust	Hope or withdrawal	Mirroring Acceptance
Early childhood (18 months–3 years )	Autonomy vs shame and doubt	Will or compulsion	Security (routines and rituals)
Play age (3–5 years)	Initiative vs guilt	Purpose or inhibition	Clear boundaries Vision setting
School age (8–12 years)	Industry vs inferiority	Competence or inertia	Spectators Discipline
Adolesence (12–28 years)	Identity vs identity confusion	Fidelity or repudiation	Sampling Modelling
Young adulthood (28–40 years)	Intimacy vs isolation	Love or exclusivity	Maturity Identity
Adulthood (40–55 years)	Generativity vs stagnation	Care or rejectivity	Balance Mastery
Maturity (55+)	Integrity vs despair	Wisdom or disdain	Support Forgiveness
Source: adapted from Erik Erikson in Bennis (1994)

As a leader you may need to overcome some of the habits you developed at an early age, which will be challenging but rewarding . Usually this process is accomplished via coaching, counseling or therapy depending on how deep you want or need to go.

Covey: the need for principle-centred leadership

Steve Covey is a writer and teacher who has had a tremendous effect on the psyche of UK and US managers. His book Principle-Centred Leadership (1992) was a New York Times bestseller for 220 weeks. His characteristics of principle-centred leaders (see box) and his seven habits (see below) are much quoted in management and leadership training courses. Again, his focus is on inner leadership, that is, on how to be rather than on what to do .

They are continually learning.
They are service oriented.
They radiate positive energy.
They believe in other people.
They lead balanced lives.
They see life as an adventure.
They are synergistic.
They exercise for renewal on all four dimensions of human personality – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.

Source: Covey (1992)

Covey’s organization runs workshops and programmes underpinned by a humanistic self-development approach. Unlike Bennis, he does not advocate revisiting your childhood to overcome difficulties, but encourages us to focus on visualizing a positive outcome and working with energy and enthusiasm towards it.

Covey’s seven habits (Covey, 1989) connect the leader’s outer habits with the inner capability, which he labels endowments:

Habit 1: Be proactive. Know what needs to be done, and decide to do it. Do not be driven by circumstances. (Needs self-awareness and self-knowledge.)
Habit 2: Begin with the end in mind. Have a clear sense of what you are trying to achieve in each year, month, day, moment. (Needs imagination and conscience.)
Habit 3: Put first things first. This is about organizing how you spend your time in line with Habit 2. He talks about looking at level of urgency and level of importance of activities, and comments that we spend too much time responding to urgent issues. (Needs willpower.)
Habit 4: Think win–win. Manage all interactions with the assumption that mutually beneficial solutions are possible. (Needs an abundance mentality .)
Habit 5: Seek first to understand, then to be understood . Be prepared to clarify what other people are getting at before you put your point across. (Needs courage balanced with consideration.)
Habit 6: Synergize. Value differences in people and work with others to create a sum that is greater than the parts . (Needs creativity.)
Habit 7: Sharpen the saw. Avoid the futility of endless ‘busyness’. Make time to renew. Covey says, ‘Without this discipline, the body becomes weak, the mind mechanical, the emotions raw, the spirit insensitive, and the person selfish.’ (Needs continuous improvement or self-renewal.)

STOP AND THINK!

4.9	Identify the top five inner leadership strengths that you believe the headmaster or headmistress of an underperforming school needs to have. Use the ideas of Bennis and Covey in the section above, and consider also Goleman’s emotional competencies. Justify your choices. How could these areas be developed if they were lacking?

4.10	Reflect on your own leadership using Covey’s seven habits. What are your strengths and weak areas?

4.11	Imagine you have just been asked to lead a cultural change programme in a 10,000 strong organization based throughout Europe and the United States. The organization is a microelectronics company which has grown through acquisition and now wants to strengthen its unique culture as one organization emphasizing commercial applications, customer service and innovation. Using the ideas presented in this chapter, describe the approach you would take to leading this initiative and explain why.