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Tag: leadership (Page 1 of 7)

Lessons for business leaders from ancient philosophers

19/04/2023 /

Ancient philosophers can teach business leaders how to help employees live better and reach eudaimonia.

The article “What can business leaders learn from ancient Greek philosophers?” (http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/business-learn-from-ancient-philosophers) describes some techniques used by ancient philosophers which can help achieve the “good life”:

  • Dare to disagree (Socrates)
  • Let people seek fulfillment (Aristotle)
  • Be a good role model (Plutarch)
  • Build a resilient mid-set (Epictetus)
  • Keep track of your ethical progress (Rufus)
  • The art of happiness (Epicurus)

Five tips to improve public speaking

15/03/2023 /

One of the common mistakes in public speaking is that we often underestimate the importance of the form in the message we try to convey.

Unlike written pages, oral communications are a bloom of conscious and unconscious signals coming out from our body, like voice tone and modulation, gesticulating, glances with the public, dialogue speed and so on.

Each of these signals carries a different value that can alter the substance of the message, even in an unsuccessful way.

As diplomacy is essentially communication, a good deal can be reached only after smart negotiations and persuasive talks.

Hence, creating the right empathy with our listeners could add further value on the outcome of our agreements.

In an article published on the popular magazine Mental Floss, the American journalist Cindy Fisher Crawford has tried to summarize 5 effective steps to becoming a better public speaker from “Toastmasters International” and other public speaking experts:

1. MAKE YOUR SPEECH CONVERSATIONAL

As tempting as it may be to type up a speech and read it word for word, refrain from doing so.

Audiences listen better when the speaker talks to them instead of reads to them.

2. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE

A great way to ensure your speech goes smoothly is to rehearse what you’re going to say.

3. CONNECT WITH YOUR AUDIENCE

If they’re yawning, you need to infuse a spark in the conversation.

4. DELIVER YOUR SPEECH WITH PASSION

The best way to get your audience to care about what you’re saying is to show how much you care about the topic.

5. TAKE YOUR TIME

Your presentation is not a race. Take your time as you interact with the audience and slow down if you make a mistake.

https://i0.wp.com/c1.staticflickr.com/3/2456/3914858504_831952e460_z.jpg?resize=457%2C305&ssl=1

Image source: FLICKR – JohnDiew0107 –

(CC BY-NC 2.0)

 

Leading with Humility

08/02/2023 /

Leaders are often described as powerful and headstrong individuals, certain of their position and willing to do whatever it takes to achieve their goals or ambitions.

Recent researches have advanced  a new model for understanding and improving effective leadership: leading with humility. Scientific inquiry has shown that humility offers a significant “competitive advantage” to leaders.

Humble leaders consider their own strengths, weakness and motives in making decisions; demonstrating concern for the common good, and exercising their influence for the benefit of all.

Managers who exhibit traits of humility resulted in better employee engagement and job performance.

In this article, Gwen Moran explains how to use humility to be more effective in the following 6 ways:

1) Be open to others’ opinions;
2) Tend to others’ needs;
3) Admit mistakes;
4) Accept ambiguity;
5) Self – reflect;
6) Let people do their jobs.
FullSizeRender
Image source: Flickr – (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) Tom Simpson

 

Collaborative leadership

13/05/2020 /

In this TED Talk, Lorna Davis, explains the difference between traditional “heroic leaders” and “interdependent leaders”.

There are three big differences between the two ways of leading:

  1. A hero sets a goal that can be individually delivered and neatly measured. Interdependent leaders, on the other hand, start with a goal that’s really important, but is actually impossible to achieve by one company or one person alone.
  2. The second big difference is the leader’s willingness to declare the goals before having a plan. The heroes only reveals their carefully crafted goal when the path to achieve it is clear. In fact, the role of the hero announcement is to set the stage for the big win. Interdependent leaders, on the other hand, want other people to help them, so their announcements are often an invitation for co-creation, and sometimes, they’re a call for help.
  3. Heroes see everyone as a competitor or a follower. Heroes don’t want input, because they want to control everything because they want the credit. Interdependent leaders, on the other hand, understand that they need other people.

According to Davis, we don’t need heroes. We need radical interdependence, which is just another way of saying we need each other. Even though other people can be really difficult, sometimes. There’s no recipe here, but time together has to be carefully curated and created so that people know that their time is valuable and important, and they can bring their best selves to the table.

Why does hero culture persist, and why don’t we work together more? Interdependence is a lot harder than being a hero. It requires us to be open and transparent and vulnerable, and that’s not what traditional leaders have been trained to do. However, the joy and success that comes from interdependence and vulnerability is worth the effort and the risk.

Image: Pixabay – Geralt

7 Tips for better leadership

19/02/2020 /

What makes you a leader is not a title but your attitude and your actions. Leadership is about how you interact with people and how you motivate them to work with you toward a goal together.

In this article you’ll find practical tips to improve your leadership:

  1. Value every relationship: there’s a person behind every job title. You have the chance to influence him/her by the way you interact with every team member.
  2. Think about your team’s needs before your own: Thinking about your team’s needs could be as simple as saying thank you or as serious as making a trip to the hospital after hours.
  3. Help your team grow: Provide training and opportunities for them to work at their full potential. Encourage and sponsor continuing education.
  4. Share the credit: Make your team look good. Give them the spotlight and let them shine.
  5. Shoulder the blame: If you and your team fail to meet a goal or a project doesn’t go as well as planned, the blame stops with you. If you need to give feedback to people about their performance, do so privately.
  6. Never say that’s not my job: Help with what needs to be done, even if it’s not your responsibility. Even when nobody’s watching.
  7. Be a person of character: Leadership is less about skills and more about living by your values. Your team certainly doesn’t want to follow a leader they can’t trust. Respect takes a long time to earn and a second to lose.

Image: Pixabay – rawpixel (CC Creative Commons)

How to raise successful kids (or business colleagues) without over-parenting

31/10/2018 /

Though this TED talk suggestion may seem rather strange for a blog focusing on leadership and business skills development, it actually gives us an important message about how to accompany other along a path of growth by adopting an encouraging rather than punitive attitude. Julie Lythcott- Haims reminds parents (but leaders and managers too!) that there are many ways of reprimanding a person and some are much more fruitful than others in actually determining a change in the other person’s behavior.

Another important message is this: managers should always be on the lookout for situations they can learn from. In fact, some of the most important lessons often spring from situations which have nothing to do with the business environment!

 

 

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