Dear Reader,

In her insightful work on self-awareness, organizational psychologist Tasha Eurich highlights the power of seeing ourselves clearly as leaders. She explains that self-aware leaders make sounder decisions, build stronger relationships, and are more effective overall. But self-awareness doesn't just happen - it requires intentionality to understand deeply "what kind of leader am I?" and anchor ourselves in our core values.

Reflecting on this, I want to share a moment of insight from my leadership journey—one that radically shifted the way I approach leading.

I experienced a profound "aha" moment of self-awareness when I gathered feedback on how I was leading a series of meetings focused on implementing a high stakes project. Without being firmly rooted in my values, I let my perfectionist tendencies override my value of curiosity. By taking control and not managing the size of my voice, I was unintentionally shutting down ideas and disempowering my team.

As I reflected and grew in self-awareness, I made an intentional shift. By leaning into my value of curiosity, listening more mindfully, and aligning my actions with my value of integrity, I was able to open up space for great ideas to emerge and more collaboration to occur. Asking myself what Tasha Eurich calls the "what" questions - like "what are my values and are my actions reflecting them?" - helped me evolve as the kind of leader I want to be.

Our values are critical to how we lead. To live and lead in alignment with them, we must ask powerful questions—both of ourselves and others. Tasha Eurich highlights the importance of asking the right questions, particularly “what” questions. Instead of asking, “Why did this happen?”, asking, “What can I learn from this?” shifts our focus forward. It helps us embrace curiosity and avoid falling into unproductive self-criticism or defensiveness. This kind of intentional self-awareness allows us to bridge the gap between who we are, who we seek to become AND the leaders our teams, organizations, and communities need.

One tool I’ve used to cultivate this alignment between intention and action is something I’ve designed at Whole Leader Lab: the Whole Leader Dashboard. This tool helps leaders articulate their compass (mission/purpose, and values) and connect it to their operating system (role, priorities, time use, and energy management). It’s not just about knowing your values—it’s about operationalizing them in a way that drives meaningful action.

Self-awareness may not be easy, but it is the foundation for becoming the leader your team, organization, community and family need. In our world today, we need self-aware, values-driven leaders more than ever.

Clear eyes. Full hearts.

Paula

P.S. Eager to put your insights into action? Download our Whole Leader Dashboard tool and start capturing your leadership compass and operating rhythms today.

Field Report: Leadership Insights

What Self-Awareness Really Is (and How to Cultivate It) by Tasha Eurich.

I’m a big fan of Tasha Eurich! I’m providing a PDF copy of her January 2018 Harvard Business Review article to my subscribers.

Here are some key points from the article:

• Self-awareness involves both internal self-awareness (seeing yourself clearly) and external self-awareness (understanding how others see you). Highly self-aware people work to balance both.
• The research involved analyzing 800 scientific studies on self-awareness, surveying thousands of people across countries and industries, and conducting in-depth interviews.
• Asking "why" questions to gain self-insight is often ineffective, because much of our thoughts, feelings and motives are unconscious. We tend to invent answers that feel true but are often wrong.
• Asking "what" questions instead of "why" questions leads to greater self-awareness and ability to learn from mistakes. An example is asking "What do I need to do to move forward?" rather than "Why wasn't I able to turn things around?"
• Studies show people who think about what kind of person they are, rather than why they are that way, are more open to negative feedback and learning from it.
• In summary, the most self-aware leaders seek internal and external self-awareness, honest feedback from others, and ask "what" instead of "why" to gain self-insight and learn from mistakes.

I've linked to a podcast below if you want to hear Tasha Eurich talk about this very important research. It's a worthwhile listen.

Spotlight on Whole Leader Lab Services: Lead, Empower, and Thrive with EI

Great leaders have great people skills.

In 2024, I invested in becoming a Genos Certified Practitioner. Genos International uses neuroscience and emotional intelligence to help leaders better connect, influence, and inspire others. The result is better productivity combined with a more positive and healthier workplace culture.

There is a direct link between the way people feel and the way they perform at work.

Research has proven that a leader’s emotional intelligence is key to their capacity to facilitate emotions in others that drive high performance and employee engagement. This is more than just a moral compass; it’s also a recipe for success. Organisations with emotionally intelligent leaders achieve a sustainable competitive advantage, a high performance culture and customer loyalty.

Elevate your leadership skills with our Lead, Empower, Thrive with EI Cohort Program, a transformative learning journey designed to enhance your emotional intelligence and leadership effectiveness.

​Learn more about our next cohort and save your seat!

The learning begins on February 28th, 2025, running on Fridays from 11:00 am - 12:30 pm EST.

Register now to take advantage of the early bird rate ($1,500 per seat)!

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Interested and want to learn more?

Want to learn more about how to hone your EQ? Join our FREE webinar: How to elevate your leadership and build better workplace culture. You'll learn more about the science of emotions, discover actionable EI strategies to elevate your leadership and improve workplace culture. I'll also share more about the Lead, Empower, Thrive with EI Cohort Program.

Join me on January 31st at 11:00 am CST for this FREE 45-minute webinar! I'll be offering it again in early February if you can't make it this Friday.

​Sign up here for the January 31 webinar and take the first step toward enhancing your leadership potential!

Dispatch Toolkit

• Paula’s Recommendations–
  • Book: Atlas of the Heart by Brenè Brown.
    • If you subscribe to HBO Max, I strongly recommend reading the book as you watch the Max original documentary series - Brenè Brown: Atlas of the Heart.​
  • Podcast: HBR IdeaCast - How to Become More Self-Aware​​
  • Whole Leader Lab Tool: Feeling Wheel, Mood Meter, or How We Feel app
    • I use these tools daily and encourage my clients to do the same.
    • Take a few minutes at points across the day to check in with your emotions. Use one of these tools to help you get precise.
    • Keep an emotion journal. You’ll be surprised at how quickly you grow your emotional vocabulary. You’ll also begin to see patterns in your emotions, when and where you experience the emotions, what tends to be happening, and what you tend to do to respond.
    • Your power comes from the awareness your build and the ability to make choices about how you process the emotions you experience. ​

Connect & Engage

As we launch into February, I encourage you to reflect:

How can you cultivate self-awareness to lead in greater alignment with your values?

What questions should you be asking to see yourself more clearly?

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Interested in unpacking what your are learning about yourself. Book a free Whole Leader Consultation to see how we might partner to help you overcome those persistent challenges getting in the way of your greatness.

I have several one-to-one leadership coaching spots remaining!