The Limits of Perspective: Why Self-Awareness Is Never Finished
This is the last blog article in a series begun in April, 2025. Potentials began a year-long exploration of twelve leadership qualities identified by Bhavna Dalal, MCC. Each month, we have taken one quality and examined it with curiosity and care.
Those qualities are:
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They have a strong belief in themselves
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They have a strong sense of purpose
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They are present
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They have strong expertise in their domain
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They are constant strategic learners
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They network without an agenda
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They forgive and let go
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They believe they deserve it
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They know they cannot do it alone
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They take care of themselves
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They have an appetite for risk
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They are self-aware
This month, we turn to Dalal’s assertion that strong leaders are self-aware.
Dalal continues, “They regularly scan themselves objectively to see what their fears, missed perceptions, aspirations, apprehensions, and pitfalls are.”
And here, at the close of this year-long exploration, we arrive at a quality that is both foundational and endlessly unfolding: self-awareness.
Over the past twelve months, Potentials has walked alongside twelve leadership qualities identified by Bhavna Dalal, MCC. We have explored belief, purpose, presence, expertise, learning, connection, forgiveness, worthiness, interdependence, self-care, and risk. Each has invited us inward and outward, asking us to consider not just how we lead—but who we are while leading.
Self-awareness, perhaps, is the thread that has been quietly weaving through them all.
I find myself aligned with much of Dalal’s assertion. Effective leaders do scan themselves. They examine their fears. They question their assumptions. They search for blind spots, aspirations, and patterns that shape their choices. Yes to all of that.
Where I hesitate is the word “objectively.”
Because the truth is: objectivity, in its purest form, is not available to us.
We are meaning-making beings. We carry our histories, identities, cultures, and experiences into every moment. Even our most disciplined attempts at neutrality are filtered through those lenses. And that’s not a flaw—it’s part of being human.
Which brings us to the enduring story of the blind men and the elephant, so memorably captured in John Godfrey Saxe’s poem:
It was six men of Indostan, to learning much inclined,
who went to see the elephant (Though all of them were blind),
that each by observation, might satisfy his mind.
The first approached the elephant, and, happening to fall,
against his broad and sturdy side, at once began to bawl:
“God bless me! but the elephant, is nothing but a wall!”
The second feeling of the tusk, cried: “Ho! what have we here,
so very round and smooth and sharp? To me tis mighty clear,
this wonder of an elephant, is very like a spear!”
The third approached the animal, and, happening to take,
the squirming trunk within his hands, “I see,” quoth he,
the elephant is very like a snake!”
The fourth reached out his eager hand, and felt about the knee:
“What most this wondrous beast is like, is mighty plain,” quoth he;
“Tis clear enough the elephant is very like a tree.”
The fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, Said; “E’en the blindest man
can tell what this resembles most; Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an elephant, is very like a fan!”
The sixth no sooner had begun, about the beast to grope,
than, seizing on the swinging tail, that fell within his scope,
“I see,” quothe he, “the elephant is very like a rope!”
And so these men of Indostan, disputed loud and long,
each in his own opinion, exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right, and all were in the wrong!
So, oft in theologic wars, the disputants, I ween,
tread on in utter ignorance, of what each other mean,
and prate about the elephant, not one of them has seen!
Objective? Not so much.
Each man is sincere. Each is observant. Each is drawing a conclusion based on direct experience. And each is incomplete.
Leadership is no different.
We touch one part of the “elephant” of a situation—our perspective, our data, our emotional response—and we are tempted to declare the whole. Self-awareness is not about achieving objectivity; it is about recognizing the limits of our perspective and staying curious about what we might be missing.
There is, thankfully, a more grounded and more humane approach.
Instead of striving for objectivity, effective leaders practice honesty. They cultivate the discipline of noticing—without immediately justifying, defending, or dismissing.
They pause and ask:
What just happened inside me?
What story am I telling?
What might I not be seeing?
What just happened inside me?
What story am I telling?
What might I not be seeing?
They observe their reactions with a kind of steady curiosity:
“Hmm… I wonder what was behind that response just now?”
“Hmm… I wonder what was behind that response just now?”
This is not always comfortable work. It asks us to encounter our “lizard brain” moments—those flashes of defensiveness, fear, or reactivity we might prefer to ignore. It asks us to sit with contradiction: to be capable and uncertain, confident and questioning, right and still incomplete.
And yet, this is where growth lives.
Becoming more self-aware is not a milestone; it is a practice. It unfolds over time, in conversation, in reflection, and often in relationship. Some pursue it with a professional coach or therapist. Others find it through honest dialogue with a partner or a trusted friend—someone who cares enough to reflect truth back with both courage and care.
However you choose to engage this journey—take it.
Because the reward is not perfection. It is perspective. It is the quiet expansion that comes from seeing a little more of the elephant today than you did yesterday.
And in that expansion, leadership deepens.
As we close this series, we return to where we have always been pointing: inward, with curiosity; outward, with intention; and forward, with a willingness to keep learning.
As always, we welcome your reflections and suggestions. These conversations are richer when they are shared.
