The single most transformative force in leadership is a conversation.
Conversations with leaders, authors, and coaching clients changed me most in 2016. It’s that way every year.
We grow in community, not isolation.
3 conversations:
I was fortunate to have conversations with several authors in 2016. Here’s a sampling.
#1. The Outward Mindset – Seeing Beyond Ourselves, The Arbinger Institute.
Transformative insight: Humility stays intensely curious about people.
If you want to be humble, stay curious about people. The seduction of providing answers often short-circuits curiosity.
Our need to have answers blocks curiosity, hinders connection, and limits exploration.
Mitchell Warner gives a nutshell summary of the book in five minutes.
#2. Winning Well, Karin Hurt and David Dye.
Transformative insight: Relational accountability comes from a position of support, rather than gotcha.
3 steps to delegating so nothing falls through the cracks:
- Establish a clear outcome, not the process. Delegating the process is micromanaging.
- Set a clear deadline.
- The magic of delegation: have a meeting where the project is handed back.
This is the only video interview I posted in 2016.
#3. The Go-Giver Leader, Bob Burg and John David Mann.
Transformative insight: “You can lead only as far as you grow.”
Let go the idea that you already understand. “Go-Giver Leaders take responsibility to understand where others are coming from and clarify where they are coming from.” Bob Burg
5 practices of Go-Giver Leaders:
- Don’t get it backwards: don’t start thinking you’re the deal.
- Great leadership is never about the leader.
- Great leadership is about holding people up.
- The best way to increase your influence is to give it away.
- The more you give, the more you have.
Tomorrow:
Why Are There Snowblowers in Miami, Steven Goldstein
That’s Not How We Do it Here, John Kotter
DEALSTORMING: The Secret Weapon That Can Solve Your Toughest Sales Challenges, Tim Sanders
What conversations in 2016 had a transformative impact on your leadership journey?