One of the most important aspects of being a leader is to know yourself. Know without a shadow of a doubt: what you value, what your passions are, how you see life, how you see others, and who you are.
Knowing yourself is the foundation of leadership. If you don’t know who you are, if you are not firmly rooted in your beliefs, your values, etc, how will you be consistent to live them out? Why would others follow you?
If someone asked you today what is it that you value the most, would you have to think about it or could you immediately respond?
Are you living your life in such a way that it reflects who you are?
One of the greatest ways to influence is to model what you believe before others. Be the person you want others to be. How we live each day stands out more than:
the words we say
more than the things we do
more than the accomplishments we have done
Our actions ALWAYS speak louder than words. Living our life out loud is how we influence others. What do you want others to see in your life?
One of the greatest ways for leaders to live is to lead a life that reflects love. A life that has a mindset and attitude of loving others is powerful. When we lead with love we are…
generous
kind
Others know that we value them
We put others first
We become servant leaders
Every day leaders know themselves. They know who they are, what they value and how they want to live their lives.
The Every Day Leader 
Dave,
Thank you so much for your kind words and encouragement and for reading the blog. I so appreciate all of that. You are so right… We must be able to look ourselves in the mirror and know that we did not compromise who we are.
You nailed it, Cathy! You can’t fake it. You have to know and believe in yourself. You can read all the books, but, if you don’t lead from your heart and soul, you’re simply wasting your time and effort. Be true to yourself. It’s cost me sometimes in business situations, but I can look myself in the mirror and know the person looking back at me.
Mike,
We have all been there! Thank you for stopping by and reading the blog. It takes leaders being intentional to figure out who they are before they can lead and model those values.
Thank you for doing just that to those who follow you.
This is exactly right. I failed miserably as a leader in the past because I wasn’t living congruently with my own values. That was a painful experience, but it led me to deeply examine myself. Eventually, I was able to clarify my own values and today I believe that knowing your own core values is one of the most important things any person can do. Sadly, many of us wait until we’ve made a huge mistake before we realize just how important it is.