The Self-Aware Leader: Reinventing Your Value as a Middle Manager

Grow Your Self-Awareness, Become a Better Leader

Written by leadership expert and coach Dan Gallagher, The Self-Aware Leader is designed to sharpen the self-awareness of middle managers to drive their career growth and roles as leaders. Being a middle manager takes patience and loyalty, as these leaders often find themselves in the unenviable role of buffering between employees and upper management. They can also become overly entangled in just getting things done. Self-awareness is an enduring business skill that, when developed successfully, can free managers from the day-to-day weeds and allow them to master their own destiny, reinvent their teams, and achieve their business goals.

Gallagher presents a leadership model that up-and-comers, veterans, and even senior leaders can use as a catalyst to propel their careers. Based on empirical research involving more than 700 middle managers and more than two decades of use, the model highlights two key principles of leadership self-awareness: reinvention to remain relevant and proactive (not reactive) action. It is the first to fully integrate the idea of reinvention, servant leadership, and business transformation into a single framework.

Topics addressed in this second edition include leadership health and well-being, artificial intelligence, the digitization of work, the connection between employee and customer experiences, trust, and leading remote teams. The final chapter highlights how self-awareness has risen to the forefront of business skills. The book includes thought exercises, role-specific insights for leaders in various functions, and real examples of how increased self-awareness grows a leader's value.