One of the interesting insights I have started to understand is that being authentic is a very important part of being not only a successful leader but also achieving success personally and professionally that is important to you.

In life and as part of our work as a consultant and as leaders, we get a lot of reports on ourselves ranging from 360 degree assessments and psychometric profiles through to informal feedback from our team, clients and others.  These are very useful sources of improving ourselves, knowing our weaknesses and leveraging our strengths. 

The challenge with this process of receiving feedback is what you choose to take in to improve you versus being overwhelmed with trying to be the perfect leader in the mould of a certain tool, profile or perception.  There comes a point where too much feedback can dilute those strengths, quirks, or traits that show your passion, authenticity and the real you.

Take for example the title of this blog.  Those that know me well know that I talk fast!  I talk fast, am excitable and have had lots of feedback to slow down!  The problem with slowing down is that I can lose the passion for what I am talking about or come across as a run of the mill consultant or individual rather than the real me.  This might sound funny that I would choose to say this but I want people to remember me for being passionate about what I do, the people I work with and the people I love.  This includes the excitability which translates in to fast talking!

This notion of filtering feedback, drawing out the areas that are going to add value and improve you is very important to being better than you were yesterday.   I believe that always learning and improving is a great mindset but this needs to be focussed on being better than what you were yesterday not because others want you to be but because it is part of a growth mindset to being the best you can be to realise your potential.

“Be yourself because everyone else is taken”.   Hopefully people will remember you for the person where they broke the mould rather than produced another vanilla typecast!