Leading is challenging. Especially because it exposes you to seeing all the things you have no clear answer for.

So we often try to force ourself into someone else’s leadership mold.

That’s the magic of Quadrant 3: the doubt we hear could continue showing us what we lack. But it could force us to finally ask, “What if I were exactly the right person for the position? What if I am exactly what this leadership role needs?”

Committing to Your Weird

In a podcast episode, author and leader Joanna Penn asks her guest T. Thorn Coyle how authors can “find their own particular kind of weird and have the confidence to let it out into their work?”

Thorn replies:

Well, first of all, what comes most naturally to you? That’s the main thing.

We often make the mistake that what comes most naturally to us, and what we really love and feels easier for us, isn’t important. We think it’s too ordinary, but what’s ordinary for us, is extraordinary for something else. It feels ordinary to us because it’s just part of us.

What comes naturally to you? We often think that what really comes naturally to us and what we love and comes easily is not important.

(Emphasis is my addition. This question is about 27 minutes into the episode. You should be able to hear it at that point by clicking on this link to the Creative Penn Podcast.)

What is Your Weird?

What is your “weird”? When do you consistently experience surprise that others don’t see the world like you do?

That may just be part of the gift of you that your leadership role is asking for!

Find space to practice that muscle. Start small at first. Maybe in a hobby. (Who has time for hobbies, right?! This may be an excuse to restart one!).

What is Most Normal to You

In my last twenty years of coaching leaders, one of the most wonderful things I get to do is give permission for people to be themselves. And to show them how what is normal to them is not normal to everyone.

It’s so easy for us to downplay what we know. But as you grow willing to share what you know, not with a chip on your shoulder but as an added perspective, you’ll grow in influence. You’ll become a better leader.

If you want a quick way to see what style comes naturally to you, take the free leadership assessment quiz at https://concordleadershipgroup.com/style