Unleashing Your Inner Leader: An Executive Coach Tells All

CHAPTER 2

Strengths: Who Are You?

Successful leaders are adept at identifying and leveraging their strengths and those of their team. A strength is both what you love to do and what you are good at (your interests and your abilities). If you use your strengths in your job, you will gain clarity and get much more return on investment (ROI) on your personal energy. The secret to leadership transparency and authenticity is to find your three strengths and tell people about your strengths at least once a day; in six months others will use your words to describe you. A strength taken too far can be a weakness. You can leverage your strengths in career and professional development, succession planning, performance reviews, prioritizing work and time, and subtle promotion of self and group. Telling others your strengths is the first step to leadership transparency and authenticity; it allows your Inner Leader to emerge.

CASE STUDY

Meet Alexandra, a senior manager in the pharmaceutical industry. Alexandra is an introverted, empathetic genetic counselor who has worked very hard to get to the senior level. Her boss wanted to promote her to a director with 130 direct reports, but he refused to pay her the same compensation as her male predecessor. Because of her gentle nature, it was hard for her to ask for equal pay for an equal job done. That was before her leadership coaching.

Alexandra's story might seem, at first blush, like a simple case of convincing a manger or organization to offer ...