Why a Real Leader Must Have High Self-Esteem

Your ego is a valuable quality

Accepting your ego will not make you a narcissist. On the contrary, it will give you an advantage that can be the key to the competitiveness of your company. After all, the ego lays the foundation for understanding the world around us and our place in it.

In 2014, scientists generalized. the results of several studies and highlighted the main roles of the ego in emotional and mental maturation from the point of view of psychology. According to them, the ego helps us through the following four stages:

Self-obsession ("What do I consider important?").
Obsession with the group (“How can I fit into what the group thinks is important?”).
Independence ("I myself am the creator of my own destiny").
Belonging to a group (“How can I, despite constant changes and obstacles, be able to fulfill myself and at the same time help others find their way?”).

Being at the last stage, we begin to calmly relate to the inconsistency and complexity of the people and situations around us. It turns out that the ego has nothing to do with selfishness, narcissism, arrogance and other traits with which we usually hastily identify it.

High self-esteem is simply the way we act to meet our own needs as well as the needs of others. And this, of course, should be the quality of every leader.

Organizational pride starts with your own ego

On the one hand, a leader must serve, support, help, and inspire employees. And for this you need to be sympathetic and humble. But you cannot achieve this until you develop confidence. Not arrogance, but justified belief in one's own abilities.

Deborah Rowland is a Leadership Development Specialist.

Leadership development should begin with working on your own self-esteem.

Experts who study the culture of work in the most effective organizations have come to the conclusion that a truly successful company consists of people for whom the activities of the organization and their own beliefs coincide.

There is no escape from the ego, so develop it

The concept of "ego" was present in ancient Greek, Hebrew and ancient Indian cultures. We are created in such a way that we always want to understand not only other people, but also ourselves. Our sense of self is directly dependent on our perception of others. Everything is interconnected, and the ego is the basis for understanding these connections.

Trying to get rid of the ego is like trying to escape from your own shadow. You can't get away from it, so try to accept it and start developing it. Think about how you now understand your place in the world, in your environment, in your company.

For example, schedule regular checks for yourself to watch you progress through the four stages of ego development. Then think: Are you supporting not only your ego, but also the collective ego of your company?

All this introspection may seem a little self-centered. But that's the point.