LEADERSHIP’S HIDDEN CURRICULUM: HOW CHILDHOOD SHAPES SELF‐AGENCY AT THE TOP

Abstract The author, a leadership advisor and executive coach, notes that “we are shaped by our families, schools, communities, and cultures—systems that silently teach us who we need to be to stay safe, succeed, or be seen.” Yet some of these systems and their values can become outdated and unhelpful in our current lives and leadership. Especially because artificial intelligence/AI is becoming so much more prominent, it becomes more important to lead ourselves before we can lead others. He describes three non‐linear stages of this new, self‐coaching journey, in his words: Reconnect/Reclaiming Self‐Awareness, Refocus/Shifting from Habit to Conscious Practice, and Regenerate/Sustaining Change in a Complex World. Before beginning the journey, he offers three self‐coaching questions; in his words: What belief about success have I carried since childhood? Where do I still feel the need to prove myself? Who would I be if I led from security rather than striving? More questions to consider: Am I leading from awareness, or from old wiring? What part of me is driving this choice—and is it the wisest part? What would it look like to lead from the whole of who I am, not just the part that learned to survive?