Art Sponseller, JD, PCC, Senior Executive Coach, www.artsponseller.com
An interesting question, one every leader should try to answer. Our beliefs drive how we see our world and how we respond to what we experience. Our self-beliefs affect our performance and ability to lead. And they become part of the culture of the organizations we lead.
The story you tell yourself is a filter through which you make sense of the world. Our childhood stories often result from negative experiences that carry a magnified meaning so common in childhood. Each experience holds a singular truth – for that experience. Often, when we bring that truth forward into adulthood, we give it the quality of a universal truth. What singular truths are you bringing forward and treating as a universal truth? How are these filters affecting your performance and the people involved?
Our beliefs also help us make sense of the world and fill in when information is lacking (which it always is). When you compare the objective fact of an adult experience to the meaning you make of that experience, you will see your self-beliefs at work. Are those self-beliefs working for you?