LEADERSHIP | Self-esteem - why it matters to you

LEADERSHIP | Self-esteem has a profound impact on all aspects of our lives - how we perform at the workplace, how we interact with people, our ability to influence others, and our level of psychological wellbeing.

In the words of the late Nathaniel Branden, a psychotherapist and a leading authority on self-esteem, “Of all the judgements we pass in life, none is as important as the one we pass on ourselves.” In short, self-esteem is the key to success in life.

“Self-esteem” can be broadly defined as the overall evaluation of oneself in either a positive or negative way. It indicates the extent to which an individual believes himself to be competent and worthy of living.

Joel Brockner defines self-esteem as “a trait referring to individuals’ degree of liking or disliking for themselves” whilst HS Sullivan defines it as “All of those feelings of competence and personal worth that hold a person together.” Simply put, self-esteem is essentially one’s overall sense of self-competence and self-worth.

Self-competence is a generalised sense of one’s own efficacy or ability to deal effectively with life’s challenges and to attain challenging goals. In a nutshell, self-competence is having self-confidence or the conviction that one is generally capable of producing desired results.

Self-worth or self-respect is essentially accepting oneself unconditionally and having the feeling that one is worthy of living and attaining happiness; you feel like you...