Become Your Own Best Self

Leadership is not just about setting direction, serving others, inspiring others, or doing what great leaders do. Leaders who lead from the inside also place a lot of emphasis on making themselves better humans by focusing on their inner journey.

The late Dee Hock, founder and CEO emeritus at Visa, said, “The greatest achievement in life is to become your own best self. Nothing external can help with that." And, "If you look to lead, invest at least 40% of your time managing yourself - your ethics, character, principles, purpose, motivation, and conduct."

At SpaceB and LeaderONE, we help leaders focus on the internal in six critical dimensions beyond the boundaries of conventional leadership. One of the dimensions of achieving our best self is acquiring a more enlightened understanding of how our minds work.

Gaining a better understanding of how our minds work involves helping ourselves, and others see their potential and the power of their own thoughts.

Let’s delve deeper into how leaders can create an environment of understanding and realization, fostering resilience, creativity, and collaboration.

First, leaders play a crucial role in helping individuals understand their potential. Assisting others to see their potential is not about inflating their ego or making them overconfident. It’s about helping them realize they can face challenges, solve problems, and make a difference. By doing so, leaders help individuals to see beyond their current circumstances and envision what they can achieve.

Second, leaders help people recognize the power of their own thoughts. Our thoughts shape our reality. They influence our emotions, our decisions, and, ultimately, our actions. Leaders help individuals understand this concept, encouraging them to harness the power of positive thinking.

We learn from Dr. Dicken Bettinger in The Future of the Workplace that "We are always thinking and whatever we think we will experience. That’s where our experience comes from; it’s created from the power of thought. It’s not created by circumstance." That has certainly been my experience after learning The Three Principles, one of Dr. Bettinger's areas of expertise.

And from Sydney Banks, originator of The Three Principles of how the mind works, we learn that “You’re only one thought away from happiness, you’re only one thought away from sadness. The secret lies in Thought. It’s the missing link that everybody in this world is looking for.” This understanding helps boost self-confidence, motivates people to strive for success, and improves engagement and collaboration.

Creating an environment of understanding and realization is another critical role of leaders. Creating this environment fosters a culture where individuals feel valued, heard, and understood. It’s about creating a safe space where individuals can express their thoughts and ideas without fear of judgment or criticism. This environment encourages open communication, promotes learning, and stimulates creativity.

Leaders foster resilience. They do this by encouraging individuals to view challenges as opportunities for growth rather than obstacles. This helps individuals develop a resilient mindset, enabling them to bounce back from setbacks and persevere in adversity.

And leaders promote collaboration. They understand that a group’s collective intelligence is far greater than the intelligence of one individual. By fostering a collaborative environment, leaders encourage individuals to share their ideas, learn from each other, and work together towards a common goal.

In conclusion, leaders are pivotal in helping people see and understand their innate ability to navigate and succeed in any environment.

They do this not by directly manipulating the environment or the people within it but by helping them see their potential, understand their thoughts’ power, and foster an environment of understanding, resilience, creativity, and collaboration.

We believe we need a new playbook. Navigating today’s new era requires a paradigm shift in self-perception and a fresh understanding of how your mind works, what defines a leader, and how you perceive and interact with the world.

Learn how the LeaderONE Platform can help here.

— Bill