After examined the traits that contribute to the effectiveness of successful leaders, researchers concluded that a high level of self-awareness was the strongest predictor of success: when leaders are self-aware, they know how to hire subordinates who are strong in the areas where they themselves are weak.

Self-awareness and leadership

<ul><li>Internal self-awareness: the ability to introspect and recognize your authentic self;</li><li>External self-awareness: the ability to recognize how you fit in with the rest of the world. </li></ul>The 2 are independent, meaning you can have one without the other. To be truly, fully self-aware, though, you need both components.

Self-awareness has 2 components

<ul><li>personality</li><li>values</li><li>passions</li><li>aspirations</li><li>strengths</li><li>weaknesses</li><li>the environment most conducive to your well-being. </li></ul><div>They act as a framework, because introspection is key to building internal self-awareness, but aimless wandering through your own psyche probably won’t get you very far. </div>

 7 pillars of self-knowledge for introspection

You need to get feedback from people you trust, people who want you to be successful but are also going to tell you the truth, to ensure you aren’t only getting one view. Getting a second, or third, opinion can help. In the end, though, it’s on you to synthesize all those opinions into a cohesive self-portrait — and then get acquainted with the result.

Accepting and integrating feedback

It relates to our tendency to recognize cognitive biases in others, without noticing them in ourselves. In other words, our brain isn’t built to easily spot our own lack of self-awareness.

The “bias blind spot"

When introspecting, it’s common for people to ask “why”. But the question ‘why’ sucks us into an unproductive, paralyzed state. It gets us into this victim mentality.” And no matter how confident we are about the answer to “why,” we’re almost always wrong.

"Why" is the wrong question to ask

The vast majority of people - up to 95 percent, in fact - believe they have a decent amount of self-awareness. And maybe you're one of the lucky 10 to 15 percent who really does have an accurate view of themselves - but if we're going by the numbers, well, the odds aren't in your favor.

Accepting and integrating feedback

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