When you find a true leader, you know it. You see it in their humility, reliability, and their integrity.”

I talked about reward vs. responsibility-centered leadership recently, and how checking your motive for being a leader is crucial to the progress of your team and organization.

If you’ve made it your mission to focus on being a more responsible leader, you need a solid internal compass guiding you towards the best choices for your team and your organization.

If you’ve ever used a compass (especially in a high-stakes adventure), you know how important it is to be able to trust that it’s pointing True North.

Have you ever seen what happens to a compass when you place a strong magnet near it?

The needle begins to spin wildly but eventually points directly South.

As leaders, our egos can act as a strong magnet for our moral compass.

Ego makes us think we deserve more, more, more.

Ego tells us to focus on what we enjoy and what fulfills our own needs.

Ego whispers in our ear, retelling us over and over our own turmoil-filled journey of our upbringing, struggles, hustles, and challenges.

Ego paints us as the victim, the helpless protagonist who deserves to have things go “our way” for once.

And surest of all, ego almost always steers us towards self-preservation instead of collaboration.

For even the most well-intentioned leader, ego can make a moral compass slowly begin to point South…

• Where teams suffer from a lack of cohesion, miscommunication, and bitter resentment.
• Where an organization loses sight of real change, real results, and begins to focus on numbers in and numbers out.
• Where a big office, a healthy salary, and power becomes more important than taking care of the people who trust you to lead courageously.

Do me a favor?

Sit with these words for a minute.

HUMILITY. RELIABILITY. INTEGRITY.

What do they mean to you as a leader?

Are you practicing them? How?

Can you challenge yourself to take steps to do MORE of these three things and have LESS ego?

Is there a strong magnet in your life that’s messing with your compass?

Or is your internal compass pointed to True North?