As 2022 closes out, I have spent some time thinking about the year – what went well, what I #learned, what went poorly, and how I can continue to #grow. I believe that #selfreflection is an extremely important element of #leadership as it helps us to #celebrate the wins, identify areas that need #improvement, and see past our #pride.
More importantly, sharing this reflection and being #transparent about our #strengths and #weaknesses is even more important. #Accountability is a strong aspect of growth and by sharing our self-reflections it helps others to support our journey. In the spirit of #transparency and #candidness, I have written out some of my self-reflection for 2022. I hope you find it helpful and that in some small way I can help you along your journey as well.
It is always hard writing about your own strengths, but this is an important aspect of a self-reflection. I #communicate in a direct style, and so I often find talking about what went well isn’t always a great use of my time as I want to get right to the meat of the matter. Allow yourself some time to celebrate your wins and don’t shy away from them.
I have always been told that sandwiching the bad in between two slices of good is a great way to take some focus off the bad. I don’t always agree with this, but in keeping with the “bad news sandwich” approach let’s start off with what went well.
- Ownership – In looking back, I believe that #ownership has been a strong element. I have practiced extreme ownership over my work projects, personally ensuring things were done in a timely manner and executed to high degree of proficiency. Not only this, but I have tried to inspire ownership in those I work closely with. I have seen how much the team around me has accomplished and taken on their shoulders to ensure successful programs. This is an AWESOME thing to see, and I am proud of our ability and actions in 2022.
- Learning – I have great prioritized #learning in 2022. I successfully read 12 books on leadership/management in 2022 including Creativity Inc. (Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace), Sam Walton Made in America (Sam Walton), Strategy Beyond the Hockey Stick (Chris Bradley, Martin Hirt, and Sven Smit), The Effective Executive (Peter Drucker), Steve Jobs (Walter Isaacson), Made to Stick (Chip Heath and Dan Heath), How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big (Scott Adams), Defeat into Victory (Field Marshal Viscount William Slim), Leadership in Turbulent Times (Doris Goodwin), Persuading Scientists (Hamid Ghanadan), Ego is the Enemy (Ryan Holiday), and Radical Candor (Kim Scott). I have also read many books for fun, mostly in the fantasy and high fantasy genres, that have allowed my brain to wander, rest, and think. These books helped provide me multiple principles that I have implemented in my daily life to make me a better employee and leader.
- “Teaching” Projects – I have started several new projects in 2022, but the three I am most fond of include #writing blog posts, starting #mentorships, and #volunteering at my alma mater CSUF. These projects have helped me #learn and grow the most. I have always enjoyed teaching and helping others grow, and these three projects have helped me channel and grow this desire. I have immensely enjoyed writing about topics that have inspired me along with passing along lessons I have learned to others around me both within my immediate work team and with students coming after me. This has greatly increased my enthusiasm for work, my desire to keep growing, and helped add more value to my everyday working life.
Now that I have shared what went well, I want to share what didn’t go well in 2022. These areas of weakness were actually failed goals that I had set forth in 2021. The issue was that I had no accountability for these goals. I made kept them in my head, shared them with only myself, and thus here they are on my list of weaknesses again in 2022. Going forward in 2023, I plan to share these weaknesses with those around me and set realistic #goals to help overcome them in the next 365 days.
- Delegating – Perhaps the other side of the extreme ownership coin is the ability to #delegate. This is an area that has been hard for me this past year and has largely been swept under the rug with my drive to take ownership. I want to feel in control of everything, which often leads to conversations that seem like micromanagement and the unwillingness to let others help. I did identify this as a weakness a few months back and have taken steps to correct this. One way is listening to podcasts and reading articles about how to better set priorities and delegate. Another way us by getting better control over my strategic plans and budget so that I could pass projects to others on my team.
- Physical Health – I must be honest and admit my weakness in #exercising regularly and eating heathy, especially over the past 6 months. I find absolutely no enjoyment in working out. In fact, I hate it. I would rather sit and read, work, or relax and enjoy my time. I must get better in this regard and set up a regular #exercise schedule as I know without this, I get short terms gains for long term losses.
- Creativity – One aspect I know I can get better at is being more #creative in my day-to-day projects. I tend to be very methodical in my work, checking everything off my to-do list and knowing exactly what needs to get done. This way of working doesn’t always allow for added creativity within these projects that may actually improve performance. Ads just need to get designed, artwork needs to get decided on and completed, etc. I need to implement more creative tasks and experiment more often to find better ways of doing things. To do this, I need to allow myself more creative time, whiteboard sessions, and seek more candid feedback.
What have I learned in 2022
To round out my self-reflection, I also looked at what I have learned in 2022. I wanted to identify important elements that I need to keep in mind for the next year. I also wanted to look at lessons I have learned the hard way so that I could give advice to those coming after me.
- People Matter – I feel like this lesson just keeps getting stronger and stronger every year. I have seen the destructive power of a “dictator” leadership style where those around you don’t get any say. I continue to witness the power of a “people first” mentality of leadership. Take care of your team and they in turn will take care of your customers (and you). #Inspire them, give them room to act, allow them to take ownership, be okay with mistakes, help them grow. Allow them to prioritize family matters and mental health. This is the true meaning of leadership while greatly improving #success and #loyalty.
- Positive Leadership – One lesson that has been obvious to me this year especially is the power of #positive leadership. A leader sets the tone and the mood for their team. If you only focus on the bad, your team will only see the bad. Take steps to help your team see that good. Sometimes that means focusing on the baby steps of moving forward. Other times it means sharing stories of how their actions helped a customer. Other times it means being 100% honest and then setting steps to #improve.
- Candidness – As a leader, I have learned that being kind and being nice are not the same thing. We need to be kind, helping people to grow over the long term rather than being pleasant. Sometimes these elements line up, but often they don’t. We must sometimes come across as being mean in order to help individuals grow. This doesn’t provide us the justification to be rude, but we need to speak openly about our numbers, our logic, our #performance, and our goals if we are to continue growing.
Have you self-reflected on 2022? What did you take away from this practice? I would love to hear what you noticed and how this will impact your 2023!
Director, Marketing at Thermo Fisher Scientific
2yJordan, thank you for being brave enough to share your thoughts. You are a good example of leadership.