Self-Leadership Changed My Leadership...Here’s How!!
- Hyla Penn
- Jan 8
- 2 min read
For a long time, I thought leadership was about managing everything outside of me.
The meetings. The people. The deadlines. The outcomes.
So I focused on becoming more efficient. More organized. More available. And for a while, that worked.
Until it didn’t.
I was still showing up tired. Still feeling reactive. Still carrying more than I should have been carrying. Still questioning whether I was leading or just surviving.
That’s when I realized something important:
The leadership work I needed most wasn’t external. It was self-leadership.
What Self-Leadership Really Is (and Isn’t)
Self-leadership isn’t about being rigid or hyper-disciplined. It’s not about doing more or pushing harder.
Self-leadership is your ability to manage:
Your energy
Your emotions
Your focus
Your boundaries
Your decisions
So that how you lead is just as intentional as what you lead.
When self-leadership is missing, even capable leaders struggle:
Decision-making feels heavy
Boundaries blur
Patience runs thin
Burnout becomes normalized
And no amount of talent or experience can override that for long.
Where Balanced Leadership Comes In
Balanced Leadership is the framework that helped me move from over-functioning to intentional leadership, and it’s the lens I now use in my coaching work.
At its core, Balanced Leadership is about learning how to integrate empathy and accountability so leaders can:
Lead with clarity instead of chaos
Build trust without overextending
Support people and meet performance expectations
Create sustainable impact without burning out
It acknowledges a truth many leaders feel but rarely say out loud:
You don’t just need better strategies, you need better support systems for yourself.
What Balanced Leadership Looks Like in Practice
In real life, Balanced Leadership shows up as:
Routines that support clarity and focus
Boundaries that are built into systems, not just willpower
Expectations that match real capacity
Habits that protect energy and sharpen leadership judgment
It’s not about doing less, it’s about doing what actually sustains you.
And when leaders start leading themselves well, everything else gets lighter:
Communication improves
Teams feel steadier
Decision-making becomes clearer
Leadership stops feeling like survival
A Question Worth Sitting With
If you’ve been feeling stretched, tired, or unsure whether you’re leading effectively, or just holding things together, this is worth asking:
What would change if your leadership started with how you lead yourself?
If this reflection resonates, that’s usually a sign there’s an opportunity to realign.
And sometimes, it helps to have a thinking partner.
If you’d like to explore how Balanced Leadership could support your leadership journey, your capacity, your clarity, your impact, I’m always open to a Strategy & Connection Call to talk it through.
No pressure. Just conversation, clarity, and next steps that make sense for you.
With heart + strategy,
Hyla
Founder & Lead Consultant, H-Monét Penn Consulting
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