Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?’ You know who said it, right? The aged and vindictive queen from Snow White. Recently, I’ve begun to understand the queen in that story a little more because I’m getting older. I look in the mirror, and the mirror doesn’t lie. It is a reflection of the truth. While mirrors may not be a person’s best friend as they age, reflection remains a powerful ally for leaders. Tod Bolsinger, in his best-seller Canoeing Mountains, said, ‘Formal leadership is learned by doing and then reflecting on the doing.’ Maya Angelo reflected, ‘Do the best you can with what you know, and when you know a little better, do a little better.’
Dr. Dan Allender says the key to developing leadership character is ‘getting knowledge’, and the most challenging knowledge to get is feedback on your leadership. However, you can train your ‘feedback posture’ by reflecting on your leadership in various ways. But how do you reflect on your leadership? Here are a few ways you can look into the mirror of your leadership.
SCHEDULE QUIET TIME TO THINK - Thought leaders Alan Jacobs, Cal Newport, Adam Grant, and others advocate scheduling time to think. Jon Acuff suggests scheduling multiple times per week in an interview. During that scheduled think time, he writes a question at the top of a legal pad, thinks about the problem, and writes what he is thinking down about the problem. You may think it is a ridiculous suggestion, but in our constant consumption of information think time doesn’t exist anymore unless you schedule it.
HAVE A ROUTINE - The benefit of developing routines is that once established, you no longer have to think about them, which means you can think about something else while doing them. Folding laundry at the same time each week, mowing the lawn, or driving to work in silence are all tasks that have minimal impact on your thinking bandwidth. Those simple routines are the perfect opportunity to let your mind think about your leadership.
GET FEEDBACK - Andy Stanley challenges leaders who don’t listen to the people around them because they will soon find themselves surrounded by people with nothing to say. Dan Allender, who I referenced earlier, reminds leaders if they never get feedback or misuse the feedback they get, their team will quickly stop giving them feedback. A leader who no longer gets feedback is a leader who won’t be a leader for much longer. Consider feedback a mirror. It’s hard to find a reflection of your leadership without a mirror.
REFLECT ON LEADERSHIP PERILS - J. Oswald Sanders is the author of the all-time great book Spiritual Leadership. In it, he describes leaders' perils due to their position. They are 1) pride, 2) egotism, 3) jealousy, 4) popularity, 5) infallibility, 6) indispensability, 7) elation, and 8) depression. Take a long look in the mirror and reflect on which of these perils put your leadership in danger.
MAKE CHANGE - The vindictive queen in the Snow White fairy tale saw her reflection and directed her energy to eliminate the source of her insecurity, Snow White. We all know how that ended. A wise leader knows that nothing changes if nothing changes. Jon Acuff reminds us, ‘If you want to change something, you must feed it time and focus.’ As the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, sang, ‘I’m starting with the man in the mirror. I’m asking him to change his ways.’
Let’s be leaders who look at their reflection and make the necessary changes to continue leading and serving others well.
Keep on, keepin’ on, friends!
Bite Down and Don’t Let Go is a collection of writings on relentlessly leading yourself and others well. Read about it more here. You can listen to the Bite Down and Don't Let Go podcast here!
Dr. Chris Hobbs is an educational leader with more than two decades of experience. He’s earned a few degrees and won some awards. He’s happily married to his high school sweetheart, and they have three children. Life is messy and complicated most of the time. You can follow him on Twitter for inspirational thoughts and good laughs.
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