Having worked inside many high-velocity startups and early-stage businesses, I know how powerful market forces can be. When a group of leaders has a well-timed concept, hard work and demand can accelerate momentum to warp speed. Leaders who recognize that their genius lies in timing, not magical superpowers, fare far better at leading their enterprises to maturity. Accurate self-knowledge is powerful.
Talented leaders don’t make the mistake of attributing most of their success to themselves and blaming circumstances when things go badly. Instead, they’ve developed the discipline to do the reverse. They recognize and own their mistakes and missteps, and they share success broadly with people, fate, and factors that move them forward.
Why does this awareness of what’s really driving your success matter?
Decision quality degrades when you overweight your own judgment. If you think you’re causing your wins, you’ll trust yourself more than the data, and you’ll stop asking the questions that guide good choices.
You’ll misjudge the value of other people. Leaders who over-credit themselves tend to under-credit their teams and their experts, which quietly erodes the very relationships that increase the likelihood of winning outcomes.
You’ll risk being blindsided when conditions change. If you aren’t consistently open to growth, you’ll miss the learning that builds the resilience and wisdom to keep you moving forward in tough times.
Here are practical steps for ensuring your leadership stays grounded in reality:
In life, comparison is the thief of joy. In business, it’s a helpful litmus test. If your competitors are growing by 10% and you’ve notched 12% growth, recognize that a rising tide lifts all boats. This allows you to spend your time finding a less-traveled path to differentiation, not just keeping pace with the pack.
Examine your process, not just your result. In the past, when you had to make an important choice, did you stay open to insight from others? Did you understand why you chose one action over another? Were you in touch with how common emotions like fear, worry, or insecurity were influencing you? Win or lose, work to understand what was behind the outcome. That learning powers future success.
Make faster course corrections. Self-deception has a maintenance cost. You end up explaining away feedback or contrary facts and dismissing certain people. Instead, when you work to have accurate self-knowledge, the clarity it brings protects your energy and shortens the distance between noticing a problem and doing something about it.
When you see your leadership clearly, you can be confident but not arrogant, humble but not small, and grateful but still willing to work at getting better.
Founded in 2004, Lead Star is the company behind the best-selling books SPARK, Leading from the Front, and Bet on You. Lead Star helps professionals reach new levels of success through its innovative leadership development programs.
