How Wellness Can Make You a Better Leader

Becoming a true leader is a process of development. Of course, it doesn’t happen overnight.

In fact, some people naturally possess the qualities that lend themselves to positions of authority and influence. While for others, success in leadership requires study and perseverance.

Whichever category you fall into, your ability to lead others depends in great part on your personal health as well as wellness.

You cannot effectively lead from a place of depletion and stress. In fact, your physical, mental, emotional, social, and workplace wellness are just a few of the areas in which healthy habits allow you to grow.

Wellness provides the groundwork from which true leadership can evolve.

Every person is born with an innate set of skills. Some lend themselves naturally to leadership, while others do not.

However, leadership skills can be developed. Moreover, your genetic make-up only contributes about a third of your leadership potential. (1) The rest depends on your environment and choices.

Also, you can develop many of the qualities possessed by history’s most inspiring leaders. The path to doing so is linked with your wellness journey.

As you invest in the wellness of every aspect of your life, you can grow as a leader and find in yourself the skills to inspire others.

While every leader is unique, historically we can observe the qualities that allow strong leaders to be successful. These include (2, 3):

• Self-awareness
• Personal Development
• Delegating
• Collaboration
• Integrity
• Communication
• Empathy
• Creativity

So, a look at this list should bring to mind many of the eight areas of wellness. Your health as a complete person determines your ability to develop each of these qualities.

Wellness is a journey of continued personal growth. No leader can be effective when they are stagnant.

Imagine you are going through a stressful time in your personal life. Perhaps you are arguing daily with your spouse or juggling the needs of an aging parent.

In the midst of a personal crisis, it’s easy for your wellness to take a hit, especially if you haven’t invested deeply in the habits and skills that provide support in tough times.

As your personal wellness deteriorates, your patience, empathy, and creativity as a leader can suffer. You may be short in your communication with others, or your irritability may interfere with quality collaboration.

While you don’t have to be “on” one hundred percent of the time, cultivating your personal wellness provides a buffer in difficult seasons. Instead of falling apart, you can maintain your equilibrium.

Wellness equips you to be not only a successful leader but also a resilient one.

Influential leaders don’t happen by chance. It requires investment in personal development and continual growth in all areas of life. As the world changes, the best leaders will be those poised to evolve and adapt to the needs around them.

Wellness is how you grow as a person and a leader. Above all, it is the path by which you become healthy enough to do what matters and wise enough to bring others along. 

Leaders aren’t born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal. —Vince Lombardi