Do you have anyone in mind that you consider a role model in your life? Perhaps even a few of them. It is not too hard to think of great leaders out there today and in history, whom we admire or would choose to model. There is no a one-size fits-all approach to leadership styles and sets of capabilities. The idea of cherry-picking the traits and characteristics in them that we are deeply impressed with and then form to adopt our own unique set of leadership qualities, is the way to go and highly encouraged. We start to lose authenticity, which is key in conscious leadership discussion, as soon as we try (too hard) to become just like any one of them. According to an interview with the founder of MIT Leadership Center, Deborah Ancora, our attempt to discovering our own unique way to lead will develop into what she asserted as, the leadership signature, and it can be broken down into three core elements as follow.
Values and Core Beliefs
These are the fundamental values and personal beliefs that are guiding our daily actions and behaviours. The values and core beliefs are to a large extent influenced by our own life experiences, and for most parts, have much to do with our own childhood and upbringing. The environment we grew up in, currently in and people whom we associate ourselves with play huge roles in shaping the identity of who we are. In my opinion, when we consciously embark on the journey to understanding ourselves on a deeper level, the clarity gained is so profound that it will create the confidence we need to being the effective leaders that our society needs. I have also learned that confidence is not something that can simply be developed through training and real-world application. No doubt that they make a difference and perhaps set the foundation for those who seek to becoming a leader, but it is our ability to be in touch with and truly understand who we are when no one's looking, our strengths and weaknesses, that we ideally must care more about. Everything else follows when this clarity is anchored in. This should be something to think about for both conscious leadership and parenting - they start from this very same place, this is the work.
Confidence To Lead
When I studied on Jeff Bezos (as part of my MBA assignment) and his journey in founding Amazon to the mammoth and successful enterprise that it is to date, it was both inspiring and intriguing. I wondered about the level of courage that a remarkable leader would need to make high-risks business decisions, champion crucial conversations and show up without fail in the face of adversities. In Bezos's case, apart from his high intellectual skills, he had a huge vision on how internet could revolutionize the retailing sector and literally 'geek-ed out' on every part of his business to the extent of what one might call "micro-managing" (including making his email address public so that he could respond to customers directly) in the early days. The Amazon start-up phase was especially difficult because he knew he had no one to count on but himself and set out to execute the simple step of writing a business plan. The discipline of writing the plan forced him to think through some of potential issues, to be mentally comfortable in the space and most importantly to be flexible in the face of changes or uncertainties. Bezos asserted that failure is not optional when it comes to invention and strongly believes in failing early and iterating until getting it right. He has demonstrated the vision to get his venture off the ground and also proved that he can lead Amazon through good times and bad with evolved management skills to oversee a company which has grown from a handful of people to almost 1.2 million employees worldwide today. In a nutshell, I believe that Bezos's vision, drive, personality and willingness to take risks despite his critics and learn from all those experience, has provided him the admirable confidence to lead. Similarly, we will have our own individual talents, skills and experiences that when combined, gives us that unstoppable level of confidence to be the leader we are meant to be. For some, it is outwardly expressive but for others, it is simply dormant and can be activated, especially to deal effectively with situations where the stakes are high.
Credibility With Others
While confidence can be something inherent or cultivated internally, credibility concerns how that confidence actually extends externally to others. As a leader, we must have at least a follower, who is not only inspired but also motivated to be a leader him/herself. In other words, leaders must have influencing skills that allow them to tap the knowledge and skills of others, direct individuals toward a common vision and mission, and draw out a strong commitment to achieve desired results. Leaders improve the credibility with others by earnestly engage and connect with those under their care, put themselves in the others' shoes, and invite them to contribute towards the shared pool of meaning. Operating under the premise that all opinions matter, true leaders ask the right questions to understand what and how others think. One effective way to measure the credibility of a leader is by conducting the 360 degree feedback based on input from everyone around the leader. This can be done by asking a leader’s superiors, peers and subordinates about his/her performance, where input is gathered to help the leader design an action plan to improving ability in communicating a vision, steering change and motivating personnel to perform continuous improvement activities.
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