The Value a Leader Adds

In his book The Spirit of Leadership, author Myles Munroe comments on the relationship between self-esteem and leadership:


Again, self-esteem is your awareness of your value to your environment...Our disposition toward ourselves and the world comes from our self estimation. Our self estimation, in turn, comes from our awareness of our value to our world. This is where we get our sense of significance and contribution in life...You must come to the point where you are convinced and convicted that you and your gift are necessary. True leaders believe that they are needed by their generation and the world. (pp. 133-134).


What are you absolutely convinced you add to your environment? What value are you certain you bring to the current change efforts you are involved in? I have often turned to the matrix below to understand what is required by leaders to bring about successful change:

This figure was presented in a chapter titled "A Framework for Thinking About Systems Change" by Timothy P. Knoster, Richard A. Villa, and Jacqueline S. Thousand in the book Restructuring for Caring and Effective Education: Piecing the Puzzle Together. It provides a helpful way to troubleshoot what is missing from the current learning and leadership efforts we find ourselves in. By adding the missing component, we add value to our environment.