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THE CORNERSTONE EAGLE
August 2019 Edition
WHO AM I? ….. 24601 is a famous line at a Broadway show Les Miserables that I like. This question of ‘WHO AM I’ and how to have this kind of self-awareness is the focus for this August edition of The Eagle. Research suggests that when we see ourselves clearly, we are invariably more confident and more creative. We make sounder decisions, build stronger relationships, and communicate more effectively; and we are more-effective leaders with more-satisfied employees and more-profitable companies…… More later Cornerstone International Group’s vision is to be the best Global Talent Consultancy Group worldwide, and our mission is to accelerate the success of our clients by providing top-quality consulting services in the field of executive search, coaching, talent & workforce management solutions that are faster, better and at a value, that serves our clients locally and globally. The Cornerstone Eagle newsletter is not a sales letter to promote activities of our 60 offices globally, but a tool to inspire you to maximize your personal and professional potential to be a Better Leader and a Better Person both at home and at business.
We shall be your Faithful Companion / Coach / Mentor on your life and career journey, supporting you
to discover yourself and offering good advice for ‘Healthier Business and Life’.
Best Wishes,
Simon Wan
Chief Executive
Cornerstone International Group
Phone No.: +86 21 6474 7064 |Email: [email protected]
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SELF – AWARENESS First Step to Self-Improvement
WHO AM I Self-Awareness is important because when we have a better understanding of ourselves, we are able to experience ourselves as unique and separate individuals. We are then empowered to make changes and to build on our areas of strength as well as identify areas where we would like to make improvements.
We usually identify our existence with our position in society, our friends and family, the needs and desires of our body, and the emotional and intellectual expressions of our mind. For example: We might say ‘I am the Managing Director of XXX since 2011. I have three children and we live in Paris’. We rarely take the time to contemplate the real nature of our existence; to ask the question, "Who am I?" Johari Window is quite useful as you discover who you are.
Think about describing yourself to another
person without mentioning anything about the
external things that are in your life, your friends,
family, businesses etc. Concentrate only on
yourself, how you feel and behave, perhaps
recognizing some of your strengths and
weaknesses.
1. Self-awareness is often a first step to goal setting. Self-awareness is being conscious of what you are good at while acknowledging what you still have yet to learn. This includes admitting when you do not have the answer.
Self-Awareness is about understanding why you feel what you feel and why you behave in a particular way. Once you begin to understand this concept, then you have the opportunity and freedom to change things about yourself, enabling you to create a life that you want. It is almost impossible to change and
become self-accepting if you are unsure as to who you are. Having clarity about who you are and what you want can be empowering, giving you the confidence to make changes.
Self-Acceptance is key to Self-Awareness You notice the less you judge yourself, the less you will judge others.
The experience of acceptance would give you the solid foundation to
move forward in creating yourself and your life in a way that is more satisfying.
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Self-Awareness Exercises With this in mind, we found SEVEN Exercises that can apply to yourself and help you improve Self-
Awareness.
1. Take Psychometric Tests Psychometric tests can help measure a person’s skills, numerical or verbal aptitude, or their personality type. Although the results of these tests are not gospels, they are a good way to start learning more about yourself and increase your self-awareness. For example, the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), your answers determine where you fall on four spectrums: extroverted/introverted, sensing/intuitive, thinking/feeling, and judging/perceiving.
2. Find out the Blind Spot A blind spot is that which others know about us that we are not yet aware of ourselves. A blind spot can be dangerous. We all have a blind spot. Here is what you need to do in confronting potential blind spots:
Contact a close friend, family member, or mentor, someone who knows you well, and invite this person to share a meal. During the meal, ask this person to share the one thing that annoys her or him most about you. Before the response, tell the person that nothing is off-limits and that would not respond defensively—only to listen with an open heart and mind.
3. Identify Your own Strengths and Weaknesses
When you know your strengths and what your weaknesses are, this will allow you to focus on the first and manage around the second. One option is the VIA Character Strengths Survey (free), or the StrengthsFinder test (not free). In terms of your weaknesses, here are three tips for identifying the areas that need shoring up:
Ask yourself which tasks you keep avoiding.
Think back to your failures. Is there a common pattern to those failures? What weakness are those failures pointing?
Think back to every evaluation you have received, is there something that people keep telling you that you need to work on?
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4. Label Your Emotions in 24 hours Part of being self-aware is to understand your emotions. How do you feel right now? How many emotions have you felt in the last 24 hours? What is the most prevalent emotion in your life at this moment?
Most people have a very limited vocabulary when it comes to expressing what emotions they are feeling, and this limits their ability to be fully aware of, and to fully describe and understand what they are feeling. If you get better at labeling your emotions, not only will you lead an emotionally richer life, but you will also be able to respond more appropriately to what is happening around you.
5. Question Your Automatic Thoughts Oftentimes, our automatic thoughts are negative and irrational. People who lack self-awareness will often accept these thoughts as true, which distorts their perception of reality. A self-aware person, on the other hand, allows them to dispute irrational thoughts and replace them with better thoughts, which more accurately reflect reality.
6. Apply Feedback Analysis
Warren Buffet applies feedback analysis. According to the Harvard Business Review, when he makes an investment decision, he carefully articulates the reasons why he is making the investment. His journal entries serve as a historical record that helps him assess the accuracy of his investment decisions. You can start applying feedback analysis in your own life in order to become more aware of how you are making decisions, and how you can
improve your decision-making process.
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Ask people you trust for feedbacks. You can never be sure of how you are coming across to others until you ask them. Therefore, if you want to become more self-aware, ask a few people you trust for feedback on your personality. Ask for both positive and negative feedback, as well as for any advice they may have on how you can improve.
7. Have a Life Vision and Mission Are you just surviving, or are you living on purpose and working to create the kind of life that you want? People without self-awareness usually fall into the first group, while self-aware people fall into the second. A great way to start living your life on purpose is to create a vision and a mission statement. A Vision statement answers questions like the following: What will your legacy be? What will your life look like 20, 15, 10, and 5 years from now? What is your North Star? What are you working to achieve over the long term? A Mission statement answers the following questions: What do I do? Whom do I do it for? How do I do it?
Food for Thought from the Bible
SELF-AWARENESS means humbly allow GOD to examine our heart and mind.
Psalms 26:2 Test me, Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind. Romans 12:3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. Our Editor, Kuang Fu at [email protected] would love to hear from you if you have special
thoughts to share.
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About Cornerstone International Group
Cornerstone International Group is a Global Talent Consultancy Group founded in 1989 with some 60 offices worldwide and headquarters in Shanghai, China and Atlanta, USA. Our mission is to accelerate the success of our clients by providing top-quality consulting services in the field of talent recruitment and coaching solutions that are faster, better and at a value that serves our clients locally and globally. We provide a proven approach to Executive Search, Executive Coaching and Board Solutions in China, Asia and across Europe and Americas. A global member of the Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants (AESC), Cornerstone is recognized as having the highest level of quality in the industry. Cornerstone is also named by Forbes as one of the Best Management Consulting Firms in Executive Search in 2016, 2017 & 2018, 2019 and ranked by Hunt Scanlon as top Global 25 groups in 2018 & 2019
