I think leadership begins long before you receive a title as it begins with understanding who you are, what you value, and how you choose to show up when no one is watching. From time to time, I encourage leaders and senior professionals to pause and ask themselves a few honest questions.
About your work
- Under what conditions do you do your best work?
- Which strengths do you consistently bring to your team?
- What are you most proud of?
- Where are you heading, and are your daily actions moving you in that direction?
About your leadership
- Do you model personal responsibility and accountability?
- Are you willing to advocate for your team when they are not in the room?
- Do people know you as someone who develops others, solves problems, and creates opportunities?
About yourself
- When was the last time you invested in your own development by speaking with a coach, mentor, or another trusted professional?
- Are you building your skills because they matter to you, or because you are seeking approval from others?
And perhaps the more difficult questions:
- Do you find yourself shrinking in meetings, code-switching, or over-explaining your expertise?
- Are you trying to make yourself more palatable in environments that were never designed with you in mind?
- Are you still waiting for someone else to tell you that you are good enough?
- Do you undervalue your expertise because you are relying on external validation rather than trusting the value you already bring?
In my experience, the quality of our leadership is closely linked to the quality of the questions we ask ourselves because every decision, every conversation, and every interaction shapes the leader we are becoming.