Self-awareness is an important skill in work and in life. If you look around at the most successful managers and leaders, they tend to have good self-awareness. But equally importantly, they use that knowledge in their daily work. A good example of that is the decisions they make about whom they put on their teams.

Smart, self-aware leaders are very tuned in to what they do well vs. what they do less well and they surround themselves with colleagues who are strong in areas in which they are weak. Surprisingly, there are still managers out there who are fearful of colleagues or employees who are better than they are in some areas. The fear is that the employee or colleague will look “better” than the manager does. This is a very short-sighted fear that will severely limit the manager over time.

In short, everyone has strengths and weaknesses. The way to cover for our weaknesses is to surround ourselves with folks for whom those same areas are strengths! That is a win-win all around.