It is absolutely impossible to effectively lead others if you first don’t have the ability to lead yourself. Knowing yourself, both strengths and weaknesses, is a critical part of this process of being effective. This post by Daniel Goldman is excellent and will help anyone who wants to improve:
We prefer “EI,” which we define as comprising four domains: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Nested within each domain are twelve EI competencies, learned and learnable capabilities that allow outstanding performance at work or as a leader (see the image below).