Your Leadership identity is who you are when all the external things you possess or assume you possess are removed or taken away from you.

This is the influence you command, or the responsibilities you will take on, or the faithfulness to a cause you will commit to, when we withdraw all your external adornment or valuables. This is the leadership capacity in your inner mind.

Statistically, this would have been who you are when we adjust for all external variables in our lives. Simply put, your identity is the amount and interaction of the Health, Peace, Stability, and Harmony in your inner core (Interrelationship between our Spirit and Soul). As humans, we are a spirit being who possesses a soul and lives in a body which is out earthly suite to be able to live on this planet.

Consider the external flesh as an astronaut suite. And assume the real you inside the suit. An astronaut will always need his suites to travel to and survive in space. “The technical name for the space suit needed to walk in space is Extravehicular Mobility Unit. Meaning a separate suit for live outside of the spacecraft which is the vehicle.

A fully equipped spacesuit used during spacewalks is actually a miniature spaceship shaped like a human body that protects the astronaut from the dangers of being outside a vehicle while in space or on the Moon. Spacewalking astronauts face radiation, dust, debris, and extreme temperatures. Temperatures on spacewalks may vary from as cold as minus 250 degrees Fahrenheit to as hot as 250 degrees in the sunlight. The suits provide the proper pressure for the body and supply astronauts with water to drink and oxygen to breathe.” (https://www.nasa.gov/feature/spacewalk-spacesuit-basics accessed January 22, 2022, 09:28pm.).

For our spirit to speak to this world and act physically on earth, the body has to house the spirit. Physical death is, therefore, the separation of whatever form between the spirit and the body

The soul serves as the ground for the interaction between the human spirit and the body. This is why the battlefield for our identity is that of the mind. The clarity about our identity is the degree of harmony in our soul. The soul is made up of the following:

1. The Heart, the Seat of emotions, or the Subconscious Mind. This drives our beliefs, attitudes, feelings, emotions, and memories.
2. The Mental mind, Logical mind, or Conscious mind for thinking and reasoning.
3. The Will which drives our choices for actions and the decisions we make.

The personality we exhibit is a function of the balance of interactions in our soul. It’s a balance of the clarity of identity we have in our soul.

So, let’s consider the following questions as regards your leadership identity:

1. Who are you without money, wealth, and resources?
2. Who are you without your titles, positions, and privileges?
3. Who are you without your authority, power, and influence?
4. Who are you without recognition, fame, or popularity?
5. Who are you without your certificates or educational qualifications?
6. Who are you without your skills, capabilities, and opportunities?
7. Who are you without the outward adornment of make ups and expensive wears, clothes, and jewels?

These questions help us to think deeply about the core priorities of our life which are the intangible things which carries more weight and are actually the foundation of our identity. When everything external is removed from a man, he is then left with the following:

1. The Wisdom in his soul – brilliance, intelligence, understanding, and wisdom. Wisdom is the quality of having sound judgement to do what is right and avoid what is wrong and this includes that ability to prevent oneself from being misled by others.
2. The Beliefs in his heart – philosophies and ideologies
3. The Core Values that drive his life – set of guiding principles for seeing the world and living
4. The Passions, – deep meaning, sense of purpose and fulfillment
5. The Leadership Capacities he had built – capacity for focus, resilience, and maturity.

This reflects in the lives of Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Ghandi even when they were imprisoned, and even though everything was taken away from them, the clarity of their leadership identity could not be taken away.

Every great man that led transformation and made history had clear identity. The clarity of your identity is what will ultimately drive the strength of your character, the excellence of your thinking, the nimbleness of your skills, quality of your vision, depth of your joy and gratitude, the intentionality of your actions.