“The greatest gift you ever give is your honest self.” — Fred Rogers

Self-awareness is a remarkable leadership skill.

Practiced in real-time, or at least daily, it has the power to help you be more sensitive and thoughtful in your approach and it opens your eyes to how others see you.

Situational self-awareness allows you to course-correct and change your behavior or approach in the moment, without reproach or reprimand.

When you’re self-aware and can show empathy simultaneously, people will fall over each other to follow you.

Late-blooming self-awareness—that is, self-awareness obtained through reflection weeks, months, or even years after the fact—can be a crippling process.

We’ve all had the experience in which we were dumbstruck in a conversation, unable to reply to someone who took us completely off guard. They make a remark and we find ourselves devoid of a witty rejoinder or a defensive retort.

What do we do?