A leader's superpower

I've always struggled with self-worth and confidence. I only recently realized that a reason for this is I rarely had leaders or mentors who made me believe in myself. 

That reminds me of the quote, "Good leaders make you believe in them. Great leaders make you believe in you."

I had plenty of leaders and mentors who made me believe that if I did what they said, what they wanted, I'll do well. The value and acceptance of my work depended on how much I believed in this, how well I played this game. 

I can see how this was detrimental: I became overly dependent on my belief in them, placing too much faith in a leader's charisma or promises. I lost personal agency as I felt I must constantly seek approval or validation. And I fell for a false sense of security where I sought comfort through complacency, where I had a low tolerance for taking risks. 

Having said that, I can also see that belief in a leader is not necessarily always damaging: In fact, we're supposed to believe in them. It's their job to lead us, to be the one we can count on and believe in. It can result in increased trust, deeper collaboration, and a stronger sense of purpose. 

Making you believe in them is not bad. The issue is that this is where many good leaders stop.

Great leaders continue with the next step - making you believe in you. That's their superpower.

They do this in 5 ways:

1. Intentional positive reinforcement

2. Preserving individual agency by not fixing everything for everyone

3. Allowing space and permission for productive failure

4. Reminding people of their value frequently

5. Pushing people to always achieve greater heights

When leaders make you believe in you, we reap these 5 benefits:

1. Increased self-esteem and stronger sense of self-worth

2. Enhanced motivation to achieve inspired goals

3. Improved performance that tap into their full potential

4. Greater resilience to cope with setbacks and challenges

5. Increased job satisfaction and knowing our work has positive impact

We can remember that making our people believe in us is important. AND - making them believe in themselves is a leader's superpower.

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