Continuously improving as a leader

Today, Svea wants to know how much you can actually learn and prepare to be a good leader and how much is dedicated to actually making your own experiences.

Becoming a leader

For Mattias, good leadership is a mix of both: learning from books and podcasts etc. and becoming wiser through experience. However, when he founded iGoMoon he actually did not prepare for his leadership role at all beforehand. He explains that the first thing you should always ask yourself is: "Do I see myself as a leader?". As soon as you answer this question with yes, you will automatically act like a leader. When you then add educating yourself about leadership while at the same time executing it, you will definitely improve over time and become better and better in your role. He adds that this self-development journey is everlasting and you'll never stop learning new things along the way.

Continuous practicing

While there are certain character traits that are good to have, there are probably more aspects you simply need to practice every single day. An example for this would be good communication. Especially in his early days that was something he failed again and again because of his lack of experience. Another important aspect of improving leadership is to always practice self-awareness. The more you reflect on your own behavior, analyze certain situations, and simply invest time to learn more about yourself, you will learn more about other people as well.

Different ways of improving

Mattias also explains that for him, the ways he is trying to improve differ from time to time. While he sometimes has phases where he reads a lot about self development and leadership, he has been focusing predominantly on execution and learning by doing the last couple of years. He explains focusing on the ladder by having the strong urge to actually do things, rather than only reading about them. Some books that he can really recommend however are:

- "The One Minute Manager" (Ken Blanchard, Spencer Johnson):

- "The One Minute Manager - Self Leadership" (Ken Blanchard, Susan Fowler, Laurence Hawkins)

In conclusion Mattias shares what he thinks is the hardest part about being a leader: being the person who puts people in situations to challenge themselves with all the respect and love they deserve. You need to have really good empathy and a really good sense of self awareness to navigate that thin line that could look differently for every person. If you are destroying these boundaries, you are destroying your ability to lead.

💡 EPISODE TAKE AWAY
You need to have really good empathy and a really good sense of self awareness to navigate that thin line that could look differently for every person.

How do you improve leadership?