What’s in your heart and your head about who you are and what you stand for is extremely important— to you. For everyone else, it’s what you do that matters most.
People know you for what you do, not for what you think about yourself. For instance, leaders who believe they are deeply compassionate people but don’t act compassionately prove to everyone but themselves that they lack compassion. Funny how that works. Or not.
Your beliefs don’t make you a better person or leader. Your behavior does. The disconnect between how we think of ourselves and what we do is particularly noticeable to those who spend the most time with us.
People know us for what we do. Anything else, including a deep-seated conviction of who we are, is essentially irrelevant. Leaders must prove who they are through their actions, behaviors, decisions, and messages.
While attempting to improve may start with an internal belief, it never ends there. Leaders show up differently when they behave differently.
Leadership is what you do. Your behavior defines who you are as a leader and a person in the eyes of others. Nothing else really matters.
This is a great reminder! It also speaks to self-awareness. If what you believe about yourself isn’t evidenced in your actions, maybe you’re not as self-aware as you think, and you need to work on that a well as your actions.