You really should be aware of this...
Golden Shadow
I have never met a person who doesn't have strengths, or for this exercise, I will call them 'gold'. We all have gold in us.
I have also never met a person whose gold, when that gold gets overplayed, turns into a constraint or a shadow.
This is referred to as the "Golden Shadow."
The easiest way to see your constraints is to look at your gold. Lurking around that gold is a shadow.
Take a look at your skill stack (Wrote about that last week HERE). Those are your greatest strengths—your gold. Now, spend some time thinking through when those get overplayed and how they show up as constraints.
One coach I know is really funny and has an outgoing personality. Which is great. The problem is that humor, when it's overplayed or played in the wrong moment can hurt his leadership.
He can make a joke that 90% of the people laugh at and totally hurt or offend other people.
Another coach is really engaging and next-level personable. This, we would all agree, is a strength. However, when that gets overplayed, he can become a people pleaser and avoid having hard conversations.
The most gifted people usually have the darkest and biggest shadow. The person who can 'own' a room can also 'destroy' a room.
Maturity is leveraging your gold while minimizing your shadow.
The more you become aware of your 'Golden Shadow' the more you can be aware of when and how it rears its ugly head.
Click here to learn about/order my book The Leadership Greenhouse
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One of my weekly disciplines is scouring the internet for articles/tweets I can learn from and/or use with those I work with. Below are two that I hope help encourage and equip you.
Article 1- Mastery
Article 2- Staff alignment
Podcast- Justin Su'a. Leadership coach. Wise. Engaging. Stud!
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