Self esteem is quite simply how you feel about yourself. How we feel about ourselves critically influences virtually every aspect of our lives. Our self-esteem influences everything from the way we function at work, to our personal relationships, to our role as parents, to what we accomplish in life. Every response we make in life and every goal we set, is shaped by whom and what we think we are. Thus, self-esteem is the major key to our success, our failure, and the level of our accomplishment as a supervisor or leader.

Self-esteem has two components: (1) a feeling of personal competence and (2) a feeling of personal worth. In other words, self-esteem is the sum of our self-confidence and self-respect. Self-esteem, on whatever level, is an intimate experience; it resides in the core of our being. It is what you think and feel about yourself, not how someone else thinks or judges you.

The tragedy related to self-esteem is that so many people look for self-confidence and self-respect everywhere except within themselves, and so they fail in their search. Unless you perceive your own true worth as a person or supervisor, you cannot come close to achieving high self-esteem. Only to the degree that you can truly acknowledge your own unique importance will you be able to free yourself from self-imposed limitations.