If you spend more than a few minutes watching the news or scrolling through social media, you might reasonably conclude that self-awareness is in pretty short supply these days. How many people do you know that have a sufficiently high level of self-awareness that they can appraise themselves, faults and all, with great honesty and clarity?
Rare as it might be, however, self-awareness can be developed. And it’s one of the most essential skills for success in any endeavor.
Greg Harden is the peak performance coach who, during his 34 years at the University of Michigan, counseled, motivated, and coached the likes of Tom Brady, Desmond Howard, and Michael Phelps. In fact, Tom Brady was so transformed that he wrote the foreword to Harden’s new book, Stay Sane In An Insane World.
In a recent conversation, I asked Harden how leaders can develop better self-awareness. “You know how everyone wants to tell you what you should do, what you need to work on, what they see, what they don’t see?” he says. “You haven’t made any changes in your life based on what they said. It wasn’t until you decided to change that change was going to occur.”
One of his keys to this is employing a tool with which every leader is familiar: a SWOT analysis. “You’ve got to SWOT yourself,” he tells me. “It might seem strange to treat people like they’re a corporation and that they’re a brand, but I’ve been able to get leaders to listen by using a model that works across industries and fields.”
Harden tells me, “You could be the best coach, manager, or trainer in the world, but the leader you’re talking to has to decide what they’re going to do and what they’re going to look at. They have to say it. My saying it is nice, but it’s not going to motivate them to make real changes. It doesn’t have to be overly complicated, but it does have to be deep. I can push them to ask the questions, ‘What are your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to your success as a leader?’ And then, they’ve got to take that deep look.”
The best athletes and coaches Harden helped all had the willingness to SWOT themselves. One that stands out for him is Bob Bowman, Michael Phelps’ swimming coach. “Bob’s ego structure allowed him to surrender and say, ‘I need some help working on this.’ When he saw that he needed to change his approach with Michael Phelps, he asked for advice and support. And anyone that is willing to ask for advice and support has a chance of being extremely successful.”
Of course, everyone knows a leader who struggles mightily to take that hard look in the mirror. In those cases, Harden has a clever tweak. “When I’m applying this to a CEO, for example, I might ask them to think about what has sabotaged the careers of other CEOs whom they liked. Maybe even someone who was smarter or more talented. What caused them to fall short? What were some of the self-defeating characteristics or behaviors that you saw in them?”
That technique can get around some of the resistance proffered by those lower in self-awareness. Ultimately, however, the truly successful are willing to take the hard look. And often, that SWOT analysis extends beyond what we see ourselves. “Identify two or three people who love you, who believe in you, who will not abuse the power, and ask them to independently create a SWOT analysis of you,” Harden says.
Self-awareness is a hallmark of great performers, from CEOs to athletes and everyone in between. And the good news is that if you’re the type of person who’s willing to conduct a personal SWOT analysis, you’re already showing the type of mental makeup Harden saw with Tom Brady, Michael Phelps, Desmond Howard, and all the rest.
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