Attribution: Adapted from Wise Heart teachings by Elia Lowe Charde, with categories tailored for leadership by Inner Sage Leadership Group.
Why Growing Literacy for Needs Changes Everything
You can’t lead others well if you’re disconnected from what you need. Understanding your needs isn’t selfish. It’s the foundation for sustainable leadership, wise decision-making, and genuine empathy. That’s why developing needs literacy—the ability to name, recognize, and respond to your core human needs—is a game-changer. When you articulate your needs, you’re able to meet them (and the needs of others) with clarity, kindness, and effectiveness. Instead of reacting from frustration, overwhelm, or burnout, you respond with grounded compassion.
This list is a tool for emotional clarity. Use it to check in with yourself, guide hard conversations, and build the kind of resilient leadership that starts from the inside out.
Core Needs for Inner Well-Being
- Attunement: Feel seen and understood
- Equanimity: Embody emotional balance and steadiness
- Integration: Feel aligned between thoughts, emotions, and body
- Resonance: Give and receive shared understanding and connection
- Self-Trust: Feel confident in one’s own wisdom and choices
- Self-Kindness: Evoke self-compassion and gentleness
- Emotional Clarity: Recognize and name feelings accurately
- Safety: Feel protected, internal and external stability
Needs for Connection & Leadership Relationships
- Empathy: Being heard and understood without judgment
- Mutuality: Balance giving and receiving
- Acknowledgment: Receive recognition of experience and effort
- Respect: Be valued for who you are
- Reliability: Trust consistency and follow-through
- Openness: Share and receive truth
- Forgiveness: Release resentment, allowing repair
- Harmony: Feel aligned with others, reducing conflict
Needs for Growth & Leadership Development
- Purpose: Live in alignment with what matters to you
- Mastery: Develop skills and knowledge
- Resilience: Navigate challenges with strength
- Insight: Understand oneself and others with depth
- Creativity: Shape possibilities through expression and innovation
- Mindfulness: Stay present
- Integrity: Act in alignment with values
- Reflection: Allow time for regular self and situational awareness
Needs for Autonomy & Decision-Making
- Self-Expression: Exercise freedom to share one’s truth
- Agency: Embrace power over one’s own decisions
- Freedom: Seize opportunity to move, choose, and explore
- Personal Space: Create room to reflect and recharge
- Flexibility: Adapt and change as needed
Needs for Play, Rest & Sustainable Leadership
- Lightness: Enjoy humor, ease, and playfulness
- Restoration: Embrace deep replenishment and downtime
- Flow: Immerse fully in an activity
- Simplicity: Embody freedom from overwhelm and excess
- Delight: Experience beauty, joy, and awe
This adapted needs list helps leaders identify unmet needs that may be impacting their emotional state and effectiveness. Use it for self-reflection, team conversations, and leadership development practices. You’re more prepared to lead than you think.
Contact innersagecoach@gmail.com if you’d like a one-page PDF of this list.
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