As a leadership coach, I see that most people have different personas in their personal and professional lives. Leaders often think they need to be someone other than themselves to meet the expectations of their role.

What they don’t realize is that doing so sets them up to experience greater challenges and frustrations. It can make their job more stressful and tiring. It may even cause them to question whether they are fit for the role.

Going against ourselves never leads to our best work. In fact, we are most impactful when we can be our true selves.

As we develop more confidence, wisdom, and understanding of who we are, we begin to see that we don’t need to limit ourselves to what others expect us to be. We gain the courage to integrate how we show up in all our roles, to make our life and work a better fit.

This is a transformative process that usually starts when we are in our 40s. It is a shift that leadership coaching can facilitate and accelerate.

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE YOURSELF AS A LEADER

Having the freedom to be yourself means embracing your passions, talents, and innate strengths. It means approaching what’s in front of you in the way that’s most natural to you. This allows you to bring more ease, flow, and confidence to whatever you do. It helps you show up at your best in any situation and relationship. Your endeavors become more fulfilling, energizing, and fun.

As a leader, this is particularly important.

When you model being free to be yourself, you encourage others to do the same. Everyone gets to make their greatest impact on the work being done and feel validated in the process. The level of job fulfillment goes up, and so does people’s motivation to keep upping the bar of what’s possible.

IT IS YOUR CHOICE

Having the freedom to be yourself as a leader – and in all aspects of life – is a choice that YOU get to make. You choose how to embrace what’s on your plate and how much of yourself you bring into it. It requires not only courage but also self-awareness.

To begin, I invite you to ponder:

• What does being your true self look like for you?
• Are there any places where you are holding back from it?
• Do you feel free to be yourself in your leadership role? If not, what’s stopping you?

There are several assessments that I use in my coaching to reveal my clients’ true self to them. They are often a great starting point in this powerful process.

If you are ready to make this choice for yourself, let’s connect! I can help you get there.