How Self-Awareness In Leadership Helps You Identify And Eradicate Bad Leadership Traits
Aug 28, 2025
In today’s world, you’re probably used to being bombarded with wisdom about what to do as a leader. However, you’re rarely told what not to do, which is a bit of a problem if you ask us. Why? Because doing the wrong thing consistently does lasting damage, especially if you don’t realize it. This is where self-awareness in leadership comes into play, and why it’s so important.
In this article, we’ll explore why leadership self-awareness is the holy grail for leaders looking to stamp out bad leadership traits for good. We’ll also teach you how to identify and address toxic leadership behaviors, the good and bad leadership traits to watch out for, and a simple, proven exercise to keep you on track.
Ready? Let’s get started.
Why is Self-Awareness Important in Leadership?
Self-awareness in leadership isn’t about congratulating yourself for a job well done. It’s about evaluating how your decisions and actions work for and against you. It’s also about how willing you are to make changes if you need to, which is where lots of leaders fall short.
From working with spearheads around the world, we’ve seen how important self-awareness is in leadership and how it forms the foundation of adaptivity and trust. We’ve also seen how, without it, even the best strategies fall short, with the person at the top causing the bottleneck.
So, how do you identify these kinds of behaviors before they give you and your team too much grief?
The Reverse Blueprint: Creating a Bad Leadership Traits List
Strengthening leadership self-awareness takes some humility, but the results can be life-changing. A great place to start is with a reverse blueprint, which is a simple but powerful exercise.
How do you make a reverse blueprint, we hear you ask? Simple. Just list every bad leadership trait you’ve experienced firsthand. We’re talking everything from micromanagement to favoritism, poor communication, and short-term thinking. You know the ones; they give you the leadership ick or get your Spidey Senses tingling.
By the end, you’ll have a kind of “Dreadful Manifesto”, a bad leadership traits list to live your life by. Moving forward, keep it visible and easy to access, and use it as your guide for what not to do to help you make better decisions.
And remember, it’s not about perfection. It never is. It’s about understanding which bad leadership traits can destroy trust and hold you back, and how to avoid them as best as you can.
Now, let’s explore toxicity in leadership and how to avoid that old chestnut, too.
From Traits of Bad Leadership to Spotting Toxic Leadership Behaviors
Toxic leadership behaviors are often more subtle than you think. Rather than arriving in one massive, all-out attack, they tend to slip in quietly when you least expect them. A decision without involving the right people here, a lack of follow-through there, or a habit of overlooking key contributions that leads to resentment behind your back.
Left unchecked, these small lapses can snowball and destroy trust in your leadership abilities. Because, if you ask us, trust is like water in your hands. Hold it carefully, pay attention, and move intentionally, or it drops away. And once it’s gone? It’s pretty much impossible to get back.
That’s why prevention is the best form of cure for this one, and catching yourself making bad leadership decisions early can make all the difference.
Turning Bad Leadership Traits into Good Habits
Consistency is crucial when it comes to turning bad leadership traits into good habits, so here’s a quick three-part checklist to keep you on track.
- Keep your reverse blueprint visible on your desk, in your notebook, or in your pocket.
- Review it weekly to identify bad or toxic leadership behaviors creeping in.
- Share the concept around your leadership team to keep everyone singing from the same hymn sheet and to the same standards.
Leadership journaling also helps make the process even more robust. Because recording and reflecting on moments you almost slipped into bad leadership traits (or fully did!) helps you build that muscle of leadership self-awareness over time.
Leadership journaling also helps make the process even more robust. Recording and reflecting on moments you almost slipped into bad leadership traits (or fully did!) helps you build that muscle of leadership self-awareness over time.
To learn more, read Great Leaders Reflect: Start a Leadership Journal — and download our 31 complimentary leadership journal prompts to start today.
Final Thoughts: Building Leadership Self-Awareness Doesn’t Have to be Complicated
Self-awareness in leadership is about earning the trust of others in your organization and being the best possible leader. Without it, you risk becoming the boss that everyone remembers for all the wrong reasons, like Michael Scott.
However, with your reverse blueprint and bad leadership traits list, you have a repeatable, practical way to stop that from happening. Instead, you’ll build a leadership legacy to be proud of.
And who doesn’t want that?
Find Out More About Bad Leadership Traits
Our latest podcast episode focuses on the importance of knowing what not to do as a leader, how to achieve leadership self-awareness, and how to spot toxic leadership behaviors and bad leadership traits before they derail you for good.