Take an inventory of your most important asset: YOU

Good character is key to business and personal success, and it can be achieved with hard work.

No matter where you’re traveling, a commercial flight always begins with a safety presentation that includes instructions on what to do when oxygen masks are deployed. The airline’s guidance, mainly directed to parents traveling with young children, is to put your own mask on first before helping your child or any other passenger with theirs. The underlying idea is that you can’t be useful to others if you are struggling for air yourself, and your panic will result in costly mistakes. Although the principle may appear selfish, taking care of yourself before helping others is the bedrock of airline safety.

But it’s not a principle unique to air travel. I’ve learned, particularly over the past four years, that the same idea applies to corporate leaders. Let me explain.

Every individual is unique, and that includes CEOs. But there are important qualities many CEOs share that helped them to become leaders. At the same time, many also have personal qualities that can impede their effectiveness as leaders, as planners, and as human beings. Understanding what those essential characteristics are so that you can build on your strengths and recognize your shortcomings can make you a better leader. However, that wasn’t my philosophy when I began my own executive journey. Instead, I believed that focusing my considerable energy, passion, and enthusiasm on the tasks and people around me would bring success. And I was right, to a degree. But this leadership style also made me unapproachable and unchallengeable to many on my team.

Four years ago, a more introspective approach to leadership became my MO.  This was the result of a catastrophic event that threatened to tear apart the fabric of my family. Like a passenger in a distressed aircraft, I was struggling for air. While I will spare you the grim details, I quickly realized that it was a situation that would either suck me into a destructive vortex or become a catalyst for positive change and real growth. I stepped back, took a hard look at myself, and realized that I was responsible for certain reactions and emotion-driven behaviors that I really didn’t like. So, I decided to change.

That’s when I started a program of working on myself – looking at what I needed to do differently to create a better version of myself. It involved taking a candid assessment of my strengths and weaknesses, looking at my deficiencies, and making a concerted effort to change.  Over that six-month period of self-examination, I came away with a long list of issues I needed to focus on.  I prioritized five in particular: recognizing that I was too focused on pleasing others; hedging on speaking the truth in conflict situations; taking care of others while neglecting to take care of myself; letting my emotions take over; and arrogantly believing that I knew all the answers.

Since that time, I’ve been working on those issues and, like professional athletes, I have also retained a coach.  Even so, I’m still far from being perfect leader – a state I never expect to reach. But I’m a better leader, a better husband, and a happier human being for focusing on the things I can control instead of beating myself up over things that I can’t. While I may not be able to change someone else’s actions, I can change how I respond to them. I can also control my environment; whether it involves eating right, exercising, or taking time out to decompress, self-care is fundamental to leadership.  Embracing the concept of progress over perfection I am also learning to acknowledge positive changes in how I think, feel and respond. With this in mind, I believe that because of taking better care of myself, I show up better for my company, my team, my shareholders, and my community, not only mentally, but physically, psychologically, and spiritually.

In my own case, I was invited by some folks in my network to try out an insightful data model to help me identify the factors that either energized or blocked my progress. And their readings were right on target. But there are lots of other paths available to self-discovery. From structured programs to personality tests and life coaches, the resources available today can benefit not just business leaders but anyone in a professional role.

I encourage all leaders, CEOs included, to consider starting on their preferred path of self-discovery, to be open to change, to embrace things that are working well, and to acknowledge which attitudes and behaviors may not be working well.

Confidence for a business leader comes from knowing who you are, what you stand for, what you believe in, and having the humility to understand that you can learn and recover from failure. Courage, justice, and temperance are all valuable character attributes that can be cultivated. But I’ve found that whenever you do the right things for the right reasons, you’ll usually get the right outcomes.

Written by Craig Hinkley, CEO at NTT Application Security (formerly White Hat Security).

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