Importance of Self Awareness

Emotional intelligence is the best thing that has happened to explaining leadership in a long time. If you haven't, you must read this book by Daniel Goleman

      My favorite emotional intelligence aspect is Self Awareness. Self Awareness is the hardest of all aspects to develop. I wouldn't think anyone is born with Self Awareness but how and when they acquire it can make a big difference in their lives. As a leader, this quality can be extremely useful and can make one a very effective leader.

      There are so many ways, one can use Self Awareness to their advantage. As a leader, if you are self aware, you would know your strengths and weakness very well and so when you are assembling a team, you would want to hire people with complementary strengths to yours. This way you can build a stronger team and get the work done most effectively.

     Self awareness also teaches us that no one is perfect. We all have our unique strengths and weaknesses. Those looking for perfection in themselves or others will soon realize that it is not a quality they should be looking for when hiring people.

      Another way self awareness works for you as a leader is it makes you more open to taking feedback and/or criticism in a healthy way. Without self awareness, one tends to be defensive and cannot accept feedback in stride. Accepting feedback is the key to improving yourself.

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Aditi Chopra is an experienced leader in the software industry.
She is a consultant, writer and a leader.
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