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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)

Four Biggest Myths About Being a Great Leader

29/09/2015 /

A lot of people who think they understand leadership have fallen for some common myths and misconceptions. According to Lolly Daskal, it would be better to learn what these myths are so one can uncover the truth.

The truth is that ‘leadership is a privilege—maybe even a calling. It’s something that has to be earned and learned over time’.

To be a real leader, make sure you’re not building your own leadership on any of these commonly held myths:

1. The myth of entrepreneurial leadership

It’s easy to assume that all entrepreneurs are leaders, but just because someone has a great and timely idea and can organize and operate a business, the truth is they aren’t necessarily a leader.

2. The myth of management as leadership

Leadership cannot be equated with management, even if it often occurs. If you’re a manager, you’re focused on maintaining systems, processes, and best practices. But if you’re a leader, much of your time is spent working to influence people. They’re both important roles, but they’re not the same thing.

3. The myth of trailblazer as leadership

Just because you’re standing in front of the crowd, you’re not necessarily the leader. The best leaders take their place alongside their people, helping propel them forward to a shared mission and vision. They may even be behind them, watching their backs.

4. The myth of position as leadership

The No. 1 top myth about leadership is the idea that leadership resides in certain positions. If you’re a at the top, you’re a leader. If at the bottom, there’s no room for leadership. In reality, the truth is that leadership has absolutely nothing to do with position.

Every business and work group has a boss, but only some have a leader at the helm. So if you’re in charge, or if you aspire to be, you have a decision to make: are you going to be the boss or are you going to be the leader? If you’re going to choose the second approach, remember that:

1. True leadership is about influence, nothing more and nothing less.
2. True leadership cannot be awarded, appointed or assigned.
3. True leadership can never be mandated, only earned.

And the best proof is not the leader’s personal success but the success of those who follow.

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Image source: Getty Images

15 Best Leadership Books a Leader Should Read

26/03/2015 /

According to John Coleman, ‘broad reading habits are often a defining characteristic of our greatest leaders’. Actually reading has shown to lead many benefits in leadership development: it improves communication, emotional intelligence and organizational effectiveness and reduces stress.

Unfortunately, nowadays business people seems to be reading less, maybe because they are not sufficiently convinced of the importance of reading, they don’t know what they should read or because they think they don’t have the time.

In this article on Lifehack, Joe Vennare identifies some 15 best leadership books  especially would-be leaders need to read to define leadership and how applied it, communicate and motivate teamwork, and keep going on.

The Bus Metaphor

24/03/2015 /

The right people in the right seats on the bus: this is the metaphor from the first Jim Collins best-seller ‘Good to Great’. In that book – published in 2001 – the author identifies what leaders need to do, in order to see their teams and organizations excel. And he uses the power of an image to communicate the following concept.

According to Collins, leaders who are able to transform their organizations begin not by setting a direction, but by getting the right people on the bus – and the wrong people off the bus.

Actually great leaders understand the following three simple truths:

1. If you begin with “who,” rather than “what”, you can more easily adapt to a changing world.

2. If you have the right people on the bus, the problem of how to motivate and manage people largely goes away, because they will be self-motivated by the inner drive to produce the best results and to be part of creating something great.

3. If you have the wrong people, it doesn’t matter whether you discover the right direction; you still won’t have a great company.

Assembling the team is the first crucial point. Then a leader has to develop a vision (the direction of the bus), to remove obstacles to high performance (that is, maybe people are not exactly in the right seats and need to be assigned to the right role) and to help people with diverse talents and interests building trust in each other.

It is an hard work, but leaders need it to accomplish objectives with the right people.

Bus

Image source: http://bit.ly/16TU0QU

 

The “Creative” Benefits of Multiple Teams

04/11/2014 /

Serving on multiple teams can distract our focus, but it might be worth it.
Creative work is teamwork. As we push to solve bigger and bigger challenges, we seem to inevitably need more and more people to solve them. When it comes to organizational life, however, few people even find themselves a member of one team. Sure there’s your department, but there’s also the cross-functional team, the special task force, and the party planning committee. Many have found that serving as members of multiple teams at the same time is their new organizational reality. This presents a challenge for both team members and leaders: how do we allocate time to all those teams and how do leaders find the right people from the right team?
In a study published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior, two professors studied the inner workings of teams at a large, multinational corporation. When they analyzed the data, professors found that performance was higher for teams whose members committed more of their time to the team. Surprisingly, team performance was higher for teams whose members also served on a large number of teams at the same time. How could this be?

One explanation is that highly skilled individuals were more likely to serve on multiple teams. Those high performers may not have been the ones allocating lots of time to the team. Instead, they bring the benefits of expanded networks, additional knowledge, and greater access to resources…even if they don’t bring the benefit of allocated time. It’s worth noting there is an exception: teams whose members are involved in lots of other teams and are geographically dispersed don’t see a performance advantage.

If you’re leading a team or serving on one, the study has implications for you. To the best of your ability, try to allocate your time on teams who need your specific skill sets. If another team has a more important project, but has an equally qualified member, that should be your indication that you can spend time elsewhere. Likewise, if you’re recruiting new members to your team, make sure you know whether they bring an ability to allocate enough time, or enough connections, or enough resources to make it worth their minimal commitment.

Read more: The “Creative” Benefits of multiple teams

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Images source: Pixabay by geralt (CC0 1.0)

Post by: marisalerno46

 

 

 

The “Creative” Benefits of Multiple Teams
The “Creative” Benefits of Multiple Teams
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