Lead out loud.

Perspectives, ponderings, and points of view on the topic of Leadership

  • Everyday Encounters

    Think of all the situations a leader has in her day to connect with a direct report, or to turn an otherwise mundane interaction into a meaningful moment.

  • Big Bets

    Think of the times a leader need to inspire a team or an entire workforce to take on something special, something new, or something so colossal the organization’s future depends on it.

  • Team Time

    Think of the minutes and hours a leader spends with her team. And think of all the opportunities to boost that team’s collective performance and the impact that could have on the organization-at-large.

  • Relevant Reflection

    Think of how often a leader gets time to reflect on her behavior, her impact, her contributions. Her ability to show up for her team requires her to show up for herself, first. And doing so means capitalizing on the down time.

Leadership is such a broad and all-encompassing topic. And yet, it’s one of - if not THE - most important aspect of running a company. Leaders set the tone, leaders model the culture, leaders inspire the work, leaders develop the strategy, leaders have an outsized impact on the company, and on its employees. And yet, so few leaders were trained to be leaders. They were trained as accountants that became CFOs, or they were trained as sales people who became CROs, or they were trained as lawyers, who became GCs, or they were trained as Marketing professionals who became CMOs…you get the picture. And likely, along their multi-year journey and career evolution, they were offered a training or two to work on those “soft” skills. Ugh, I hate that term.

It’s the “soft” skills that get team members to contribute solutions to the problem. It’s the “soft” skills that make it safe for the frontline employee to report a safety issue. It’s the “soft” skills that motivate each employee to give us their discretionary effort. It’s the “soft” skills that enable us to fire people with no legal ramification. And these are all real scenarios, by the way, some of them saving the company millions of dollars, some of them making the company millions of dollars. So using the term “soft” is a misnomer; these are vital “human” skills that leaders should be taught, and held accountable for.

Leaders have countless opportunities to draw employees in…if they’re paying attention. The most obvious are the all-company meetings: company kick off, all-hands meetings, etc. The less obvious, but equally important, are team meetings, brainstorm sessions, one-on-one’s, happenstance run-ins, impromptu catch-ups, and more. The best leaders are taking advantage of these moments to connect, to understand motivations, to coach, and to inspire. The worst leaders don’t even see them as opportunities, but rather as obligations.

The more human skills a leader can infuse into work, the better the outcomes will be. Countless data points prove this to be true: anyone can produce the widget, but the inspired, connected, engaged, valued, appreciated worker will produce more and/or better widgets, and they will come to you with ideas for improved widgets and an innovative approach to making them. The way you get to the latter is through injecting more humanity at work.