From Merriam-Webster:

self–aware·ness (noun) : knowledge and awareness of your own personality or character.
self–knowl·edge (noun) : knowledge or understanding of one’s own capabilities, character, feelings, or motivations.
aware (adjective) : knowing that something (such as a situation, condition, or problem) exists : feeling, experiencing, or noticing something (such as a sound, sensation, or emotion) : knowing and understanding a lot about what is happening in the world or around you.
knowl·edge (noun) : information, understanding, or skill that you get from experience or education : awareness of something : the state of being aware of something.
leader-awareness: the notion that self/other knowledge of capability, bias, style, level, role, values and system create a byproduct at whatever level possible: required can be identified, scaffolded and institutionalized to produce sustainable results.

I think you get the idea? It’s like splitting hairs, however in my experience, there is one MAJOR differentiation. There is not a genetic constraint on self-knowledge, as it relates to knowing things about yourself, you can acquire knowledge of yourself through many different methods and you can “objectively” know yourself.

Awareness on the other hand is quite different, in my view. Awareness has to do with the consciousness that surrounds being able to be an observer of ourselves in the moment. And while again, it might seem like a “hair splitting” phenomena, I will proceed with the assumption that knowing about myself and being aware of myself in the moment may be related, but are NOT THE SAME THING — thus relieving me of constraints on my potential for knowledge acquisition and skill development.

I will agree that the field of adult development has a lot more to do with defining self-knowledge and self-awareness, so until that happens with some degree of conformity, I feel that self-knowledge>>self-awareness, where potential for self-awareness exists.

What I am not loading onto a person is the idea that self-awareness is a universal language like math, to be learned and applied with objectivity. It may be a much more subjective experience than we realize and it may not be possible for anyone to achieve any level of self-awareness, although there are great followings that presuppose that assumption.

My conclusion is thus: If people are at different “potentials” for self-awareness, then I’m going to focus where the constraints are less than genetic, so to speak and not train someone to be taller, but to be more aware of their height and what they can do as a result. Towards that end, and after almost 3 decades of trying to teach pigs to sing*, I offer the following set of ideas for your use in the next part of Capability.