identitySPECIALIST

Another lesson that I am learning about leadership is that every leader has insecurities. It doesn’t matter how much power you have and how high your position is. Every leader has them. Somehow though, the good leaders learn how to deal with it. They take their leadership opportunities and their insecurities and they make it work.

Now, I have seen leaders that are able to mask their insecurities so well that they come across as a strong leader. You know what I’m talking about. Leaders who come across as strong leaders. Everyone thinks that they are a strong leader, and they are. But they are strong leaders compensating for their insecurities.

We all have insecurities. Lately, I have had many conversations with my student leaders that are focusing so much on their insecurities. They want to somehow – get rid of their insecurities or somehow cease the worrying about how they’re not a great leader. I think they are great leaders, but they are trying to do something impossible – get rid of their insecurities. It’s not possible. I think that it’s possible to use your insecurities to help strengthen your leadership. I can’t tell you how to do that, but I can tell you that insecurities never go away. You’ll always have them.

So to my student leaders – stop trying to get rid of your insecurities. You can work on a coping strategy, and you can work on using your insecurities to help you with leadership. You can’t get rid of them. But once again, as a reminder to me – these are the Leadership Lessons of Lem Usita – the ones that I’m learning. These are not lessons that I’m teaching – so to my students, let’s learn together how we can lead in spite of our insecurities (that we cannot ever completely get rid of).

For all of my Leadership Lessons