Building self-awareness is an important exercise in becoming a leader people want to work for.

Building self-awareness is an important exercise in becoming a leader people want to work for. An effective approach to building self-awareness is to reflect on experiences of success or failure to learn about what worked or did not work in your communication, negotiation, and collaboration with internal and external colleagues. 

Write a summary that examines the results of your efforts to solicit professional recommendations. Consider the following: 

• Identify those to whom you reached out and their relationship to you. Who responded, and what did they have to say? 

• Examine the recommendations. Do you think the professional characterizations accurately reflect how you view yourself as a professional? Explain your response. 

• Consider the responses you did not receive. Why do you think these people might not have responded? 

• Consider and describe what this assignment taught you about your professional relationships with current or previous employers or supervisors. Incorporate insight you have gained through the personality and leadership style assessments. 

• Examine and explain strategies you can use to strengthen weak professional relationships.