Category: Leadership

Leadership

Three Fundamental Responsibilities of Any Manager

Hiring As a manager, we need to constantly be looking at people from the perspective of finding our next hire. In order for us to be effective at this, we need to know our current team composition really well. We understand what key skills or the kind of person or perspective that is missing or can add significant value to the impact we create. Once we know that, we can then always be looking for such a talent in every interactions we have, both within the company and outside (partners, customers and even in our personal interactions). Even when we […]

Leadership

Leading in Different Contexts

Most people who talk about leadership (including me) talk about it as if leading is the same across situations and contexts. However, in reality it is not. Leading an organisation or a team in a stable environment is very different from leading the same time in a dynamic, ever changing environment. Leading the same team to drive innovation is very different from the other two. Leading the same team in a hyper-growth environment is very different. Apart from a set of skills that are relevant in all environments (empathy, decision making, building trust, good communication, taking care of those in […]

Leadership

Heard, Helped or Hugged

As a leader, there will always come a time when someone we lead is going through a tough time (personally and / or professionally). Firstly, good leaders notice this shift and have the ability to initiate a conversation about it, knowing fully well that it might lead to a difficult conversation for both. When such a situation arises, good leaders have the emotional acuity to know whether the colleague needs to be heard, helped or hugged. When we get this right, the colleague feels like they are seen and heard and that they matter. It makes them feel that they […]

Leadership

Commanding vs Inviting

We can be appointed as a leader of a team but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we should expect the team to follow us. We first need to earn their trust and respect. We do that by listening to them, understanding their ambitions and expectations, learn who and what matters to them, what their fears and inhibitions and the see the potential in them that they are unable to see themselves. Then we need to give them an invitation to join us to go on a journey that will be challenging, interesting and fulfilling for them. One that will help […]

Leadership

Leading in a White Water World

Premise John Seely Brown and Ann-Pendleton Jullian call the world we currently live in a white water world, constantly changing, evolving and emerging. In this two part series they share their insights from their book – Design Unbound. They talk about how do you design your systems for emergence rather than stability (large corporate) or growth (startup). I would highly recommend watching these two talks (each about an hour long) to understand what it would take to lead in such a white water world and how to design your systems for emergence. Part 1 In this part, they discuss the […]