One thing that holds leaders back from impacting in the way that they are capable of is their ego.

The Latin translation of ego is “I.” The ego is associated with I, me, myself, and mine. It often shows up as an inflated sense of self, wanting to appear important, and doing whatever it takes to protect yourself so that you don't look bad.

When we are acting from a state of ego it is a low form of leadership and is limiting. As a leader, you need to let go of the ego and turn your focus outward. Here are several strategies to do this:

*Let go of the need to be right.As a leader, your job is not to be right all the time. It is to work together to come up with solutions that will best help your organization reach its goals. Adopt the best strategy wins approach. It doesn’t matter if that strategy comes from the CEO or an employee hired a week ago.

*Get outside of yourself and focus on the needs of others.Develop a servant leadership mentality. When your focus is on the well-being of others and empowering people then it creates a successful company culture.

*Take chances and be vulnerable.People that are worried about their ego will often avoid anything that could potentially make them look weak or inferior. This approach leads to stagnation. The opposite is putting yourself out there and taking chances. This will lead to greater potential for growth and stronger relationships within the organization.

*Make decisions based on the team rather than yourself.As a leader, you are constantly making decisions. When making decisions, what is your motivation? Is it what is best for you? Or is it what is best for the team? When you let go of the ego you can make decisions that benefit everyone rather than just yourself.

*Pay attention to the language you use.Start speaking in terms of we, us, and our. For example, our vision is to change how people do sales rather than saying my vision.

*Be open to feedback from others.Welcome and be receptive to feedback from all of your colleagues. Have an open mind with what they say and thank them for sharing.

When you are building something truly great the mission becomes bigger than yourself. This is what we are striving for. To make this a reality, you need to let go of ME and embrace WE.