In McKinsey’s collective decades of experience counseling CEOs and senior government leaders, we have noticed that most of them wrestle less with what to do and more with who to be. In a survey of top executives, 57 percent reported that their primary leadership challenge was personal. They struggled to find the right balance—to be authentic and approachable, humble and confident, vulnerable and resilient. We also found that leaders who created enduring impact operated from a higher state of self-awareness. In Harvard Business School Professors Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky’s metaphor, the best leaders learn to alternate their perspective between the “balcony” of a strategic, holistic viewpoint and the “dance floor” of how people get the work done.3
