Back in March of 2011 I posted the article below but I want to share it again because I truly believe that it is one of the most important aspects of leadership (or potential pitfalls) that we face. I’m also including a short video on the subject as well. Once you’re done reading, feel free to leave a comment below and share your thoughts about Self Preservation.
Self-preservation occurs when you obsess on protecting the things you are afraid of losing. Your job, your authority, your salary, your bonus or your insurance are just a few examples.
The problem happens when this obsession to protect and retain begins to block us from what we give and how we lead.
If you are over protecting what you have received or earned to date, you are showing the signs of self-preservation.
If you are defending your title on a regular basis, you are displaying self-preservation at its core.
When you implement self-preservation like a shield around you, here is what it does to you as a leader.
First, self-preservation takes a lot of energy and focus. When you self-protect you spend more hours and energy on you instead on what you are paid to do. That makes self-preserving leaders less effective, which compromises the very things they are trying to protect.
Second, self-preservation makes people more defensive. When the shields go up to preserve so does the non-verbal language and the cynicism based on fear. Defensive strategies to protect what you have is a poor strategy. Defensive leaders become a blight on all good cultures, which ends up painting themselves in a corner.
Third, self-preservation emits a strange odor of self-absorption. When others view a leader as self-absorbed people tend to keep their distance and make the leaders influence less effective. That in turn leads to lower performing teams.
Self-preservation is a self-fulfilling prophecy and it happens every day. When a leader becomes obsessed with protecting the very things that they are afraid of losing they tend to lose them more quickly because of the above issues.
Conversely, when a leader breaks through their walls of self-preservation they find they gain more influence with more people by focusing on what they are giving instead of protecting what they have received.
Self-preservation is everywhere. It is like a cancer to leaders. However, there is a cure, but it only comes when a leader gives themselves away.
If this topic resonates with you then I’d encourage you to checkout Leadership Is Dead: How Influence is Reviving It. I share much more on self-preservation there.
