Before you can deliberately develop your leadership style, it helps to clearly identify what your instincts already are — the choices you make automatically under pressure, before you’ve had time to consciously think them through and decide differently. This lesson covers how to surface those instincts honestly and without judgment.
Instincts Show Up Most Clearly Under Pressure
Your default leadership instincts are most visible in moments of time pressure, conflict, or genuine uncertainty, since these are the moments when there’s no time to carefully consider alternatives and your natural, well-worn patterns simply take over the decision entirely.
Reflecting on Recent High-Pressure Moments
Reviewing a handful of recent high-pressure leadership moments and noting what you actually did in each one, rather than what you think you should have done in hindsight, gives you an honest, unfiltered picture of your true default tendencies as they actually operate day to day.
Separating Instinct From Identity
An instinct is simply a well-practiced pattern, not a fixed, permanent part of who you are as a person deep down, and treating it that way makes it much easier to examine honestly and adjust deliberately where it isn’t actually serving you well right now.
Action Step
Write down three recent high-pressure moments as a leader, and note your actual first instinct in each one before you had time to consciously think it through carefully.
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