When I started to blog, I found myself losing myself. I wanted so badly to be successful that I gave up a lot of my identity. I stopped watching television and movies, I changed the way I dressed, and I even left behind hobbies I enjoyed.
What happened here?
I lost my personal identity. I let my role as a leadership blogger supersede my personal identity. And it sucked.
While I saw success blogging and sharing my leadership insights, I felt adrift. I felt like I was missing something. I was. I was missing myself.
Talking to other leaders, this happens often. New leaders have their own unique style that gets pushed to the background so they can fit in with the current slate of leaders. The same leaders that come and go.
Here’s the crazy part. One thing remains the same: YOU.
To survive out there, you have to know how to balance your leadership role with your personal identity. Good thing you’re here. You’re about to learn how to do that.
4 Ways To Balance Leadership Roles And Personal Identity
Multiple areas of our lives can get lost in our leadership roles. You might find your personal values changing to fit with the organization, your personal style changing so you can impress the next CEO, or you might see your thoughts and ideas change.
Let’s take a look at 4 ways to make sure you’re not losing yourself while leading.
1. Identify your leadership style:
There are various leadership styles out there to choose from. According to IMD, there are 6 common types of leadership styles. They are:
- Transformational
- Delegative
- Authoritative
- Transactional
- Participative
- Servant
Play around with the different leadership styles. Try each one on to see how it fits with your personality. There are certain leadership types that mesh well with certain personality types.
The more you try out different leadership styles, the more your personality stays with you.
2. Set boundaries:
People get lost in their roles because they have no set boundaries. Everything is on the table to succeed. This causes great leaders to stumble because they become the leader-du-jour, or of the day.
That’s not what you want. You want to be able to bring your whole self to your leadership role. You want to be able to be you while taking the organization to the next level.
Allow yourself to set boundaries. There have to be lines you won’t cross. These lines will match your personality.
Set boundaries and don’t cross them.
3. Be self-aware:
We find ourselves slowly losing our personal identities because we lose sight of who we are, what we’re doing, and why we’re doing what we do.
Be self-aware. Allow yourself to take a step back to evaluate yourself on a regular basis. Examine your actions, see if they fit in with your personal identity, and make the necessary changes to avoid losing yourself.
4. Maintain integrity:
The last, and most important, way to not lose your personal identity as a leader is to maintain your integrity. I’ve hit on this just a bit in this article but we have to make sure we’re leading with integrity.
You have to be willing to do the right thing because you lose yourself completely when you don’t.
Do the right thing. Don’t waver. If you’re asked to do something immoral, be willing to step away from the organization.
Don’t Lose Yourself
The rapper Eminem had a song called Lose Yourself. That’s not what you need to do as a leader. Instead, you have to discover who you are, why you’re doing what you’re doing, and stay true to your personal identity.
Work on making sure you align yourself with what you value so you don’t lose yourself.
