REFLECTIONS ON SELF-AWARENESS Cohort XII Certificate Program in Public Sector Leadership and Governance

FIRST THINGS FIRST Who am I? Where do I start? Strengths and weaknesses Values and beliefs Core leadership style What I think I project (the inside) vs what others perceive (the outside) Where do I start? If I had an MBA or an MPA, it would be so much easier As an introvert (truly), where do I start? So I turned primarily to books Supported by formal training, Executive coaching and 360s

Being a scientist, I started with broadening my management skills;

And then explored how to respond to “non-scientific” problems…

And clearly needed to learn to communicate in plain language (as opposed to scientific gobbledygook)…

If I aspire to grandiose things, let’s brush up on Great Leaders…

But lo and behold, I keep on making mistakes… How do I get it consistently right?

Clearly, I need to be more effective, let’s read more on this…

Might as well upgrade the way I think…

And make sure I’m really, really strategic in approaching issues…

Geewhiz, what’s happening? I still struggle… Damn people!!!

Let’s further improve how I think, surely it won’t hurt…

My gosh, my mind just runs on, which seems to annoy some people…

Obviously, I’m far from achieving mastery. Where to next?

I never thought that my journey would get me here…

MY REFLECTIONS: No matter how much progress one makes on Self-Awareness, there is always more to learn “People with a high level of mastery are acutely aware of their ignorance, their incompetence, their growth areas, and they are deeply confident” Peter Senge