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mirror and seeing the image of a lion.
I used this to illustrate that in the same manner when one looks in the mirror they should see a winner, an indomitable fighter even when they are faced with odds such as small stature, adversity or deprivation.

This week I want to talk about using the same mirror to achieve a different goal, that is enhancing ourselves as leaders.
As leaders we should be able to look at ourselves in the mirror from time to time for the purpose of carrying out an objective analysis or criticism of ourself.
Objective analysis and criticism entails honestly, realistically and accurately looking at something to evaluate it or determine its value, effectiveness or simple nature.
It also means going further to identify the negatives with a goal of eradicating or overcoming them.

Carrying out an objective criticism on yourself means analysing your character, personality, performance, attributes, habits, strengths as well as weaknesses.
This means you go before the mirror to have a true reflection of yourself with the desire to honestly and objectively see who you are, your character, your weaknesses, your strengths, values, phobias and even habits.
It is part of human nature that most of the times we want to hear good things about ourselves but if we are to become the leaders that we desire, we must also make deliberate efforts to see and acknowledge our bad aspects, weaknesses as well as shortcomings.

It is also part of human nature to analyse and criticise other people in life and in most cases we do this with cynicism or even contempt, but without appreciating the importance of carrying out that kind of process on ourselves.
It is, on the contrary, rather more beneficial and positive for individuals to always objectivity criticise themselves.
The process of objective analysis and criticism has a mercurial way of clearly pointing out aspects of a person, bringing them to the fore and revealing their exact nature as well as effectiveness towards moulding the person you are.

After that you go on to identify the weaknesses, failures, shortcomings and any other unpalatable aspects of yourself for the purpose of working on getting rid of them.
Doing objective analysis and criticism of yourself should help you identify the unpalatable aspects of yourself before they either destroy you or become a menace for others around you.
Identifying your bad habits brings with it the added advantage that they can be easily dealt with before they get out of hand or are an irritant to others.

It is also a fact that character and personality development are processes that we undertake over a long period of life on the path towards maturity or even towards our deaths.
The development of a person’s attributes, character or personality along the path of life involves the pruning, trimming and nurturing of your strengths, skills, abilities, habits and values.
It involves the gradual but pertinent process of eradicating the undesired elements that at various stages pop up, such as dishonesty, unfaithfulness, insincerity, lust, fear, animosity, covetousness, arrogance and selfishness.

That is how the aspect of objectively analysing and criticising yourself becomes a major contributor to the process of development of your person.
Honestly, realistically and accurately identifying the undesired or unpalatable aspects of yourself will put you in the position of knowing the bad or negatives that you need to be get rid of and there is no better person than yourself that should do that task.

I remember having discussions with some colleagues recently on how the world always gets shocked when unpalatable revelations of seemingly very successful or high-flying individuals emerge.
One of the things that come up is that in most cases people flow along the path of life, enjoying what they regard as success, the cheers and sympathies of those that follow them without doing objective analysis and criticism of themselves.

Tiger Woods’ nasty sexual escapades shocked and astounded the world, but that is just an example of how some individuals allow some of the things to be part of their huge profiles.
Most celebrities get caught up in nasty scandals because they let their fame and popularity cloud their judgment and focus.

Doing objective criticism on your own therefore puts you in a position to mould your character and personality by dealing with the bad aspects as you identify them in the process and sort things before a catastrophe or a shocking expose.
Carrying out the process of objective analysis and criticism enables people to enhance their strengths and comparative advantages.

For example, one may have some skills or abilities, but if these are not developed to the proper level one cannot achieve the desired objectives.
Without objective criticism you can easily wallow in the so-common illusionary comfort and false sense of security all the way to the day it becomes exposed that you lacked in many ways.
It is a sobering, yet quite uncomfortable experience to sit down and start doing what in most cases we always do to others, objectively assessing and analysing yourself, identifying and deducing the things that make you

The benefits are, however, rewarding because you become a more polished, better-developed and informed person.
I have no doubt most would agree that better leaders and achievers come out of this not so exciting way of self censorship and development.

• Pascal Nyasha is a motivational speaker, leadership coach and business consultant. He is the author of the inspirational book, “Reaching New Horizons”, and Founding Fellow of the Leadership Institute Africa. Call: 0773 003 912 or email: [email protected]. Connect with Pascal on Facebook.