84 Days of Leadership - where does that leave us?

Joke of the Post (from me):

Me: Knock Knock

You: Who’s there?

Me: A fascinating exploration of what lies at the core of leadership, and how we can prepare to face the complex challenges that are arising!

Here We Go

So I’m doing a course called Global Challenges. It’s been 12 weeks, and we are yet to actually solve any. But we’re on our way.

Coming into this course I thought we’d pick a new Global Challenge every week, research it, maybe discuss it a little, and then solve it and move on to the next week’s Challenge. (I’m only half joking)

But here I am, a whole semester in, and it’s been nothing like I expected.

I wouldn’t have it any other way.

So what have I learnt?

Nothing is Impossible

It might sound corny, but I really have learnt that no idea is too crazy if you have the right people to help you make it happen.

Take Boyan Slat for example. He dreamed of removing all the plastic from the world’s oceans and at age 16 came up with a revolutionary idea to make his dream a reality. Not many decision-makers around the world took him seriously.

It was only once he’d gathered a team of over 100 scientists and engineers that he was able to produce a legitimate feasibility study to show the world his plan could work. These experts were all volunteers, joining him solely because they believed in him and his vision.

Today, The Ocean Cleanup is preparing to launch its first plastic collection platform in early 2016. The majority of his original team are still involved, and nearly all of them are still volunteers.

Slat's ground-breaking design for ocean plastic removal in action

In today’s leadership-starved world there’s a lot of pressure to pretend that we know what we’re doing, and that we have all the answers, even when we don’t (D, Souza & Renner 2014). We feel isolated and incompetent, which makes any future success even less likely.

It’s ok to ask for help.

Admitting that we don’t know something is a sign of bravery, and surrounding ourselves with people who support us and keep us motivated is a key factor in the success equation.

Diversity is Essential 

Have you ever tried to solve a problem by yourself and failed time and time again, only to realise - when working with someone else - that it actually wasn’t that hard?

 

Ex-Police Commissioner and current 
leadership educator Christine Nixon tells how “the barriers separating you from success might not actually be there, they’re just in your head” (2015, pers. comm. 28 April) 

We can get trapped in certain patterns of thinking without even realising, thinking the world is against us when ultimately our mindset is the only thing holding us back. The best way to break free of these biases is to utilise the diverse thinking of others.

“The capacity to orchestrate multiple interpretations... is more likely to produce innovative insights than relying solely on one person’s viewpoint.” (Heifetz, Grashow& Linsky 2009). What better way to construct multiple interpretations than working with those around you?

So should you go along with everything that those you admire are doing? Does Heifetz, Grashow & Linsky’s “don’t do it alone” (2009) rule mean we should use other people’s ideas?

Not exactly...

You Have to be You

Instead of saying “I want to be the next Bill Gates/Steve Jobs/Boyan Slat”, we need to be saying “I want to be the next me.”

Sure, people before us have done amazing things, but if we aim to be exactly like them, not only will we be restricting our potential by imposing limits on our achievements; we’ll also come across as superficial and inauthentic. 

Leadership means seeing how someone else does it, liking the way they operate and still having the courage do it your own way. It’s about discussing, debating, trusting and leaning on each other.

Our individual ethical framework is thrust into the spotlight when we choose to embark on a journey of leadership (Northouse 2013). Real leadership demands working as part of a team, a global citizen who is part of a community. It doesn’t mean we have to compromise our personal values and morals.

Leadership is about giving your time, energy and resources -giving a part of yourself -  it’s not about receiving. 

Oh, and before I forget, I have to thank my Mum and Dad, Gabe, Shreeya, Steph, Rowan and the rest of the GC15 cohort for making this blog post possible. I couldn’t have done it without them.  

References:

Northouse, PG 2013, Leadership theory and practice (sixth edition), SAGE Publications, United States of America

D, Souza, S & Renner D 2014, Not Knowing. The art of turning uncertainty into opportunity, LID, New York

Heifetz, R, Grashow, A & Linsky, M 2009, The practice of adaptive leadership. Tools and tactics for changing your organization and the world, Harvard Business Review Press, Boston

http://pixabay.com/p-283847/?no_redirect

http://pixabay.com/p-433625/?no_redirect

Elliot Newman and the Leadership Tip that will Change your Life

It’s all about you.

If you want to be an effective leader you have to be smart. You have to be charismatic and confident. You have to be organised.

If you have these qualities, you’ll be a good leader, right?

Wrong.

Elliot Newman believes that how you relate to others lies at the core of true leadership.

As we chat over Skype on a wintry Thursday night, my study lit by his cheerful grin,  he explains that being a great leader isn’t about being in charge, it’s about understanding who you’re leading and “appreciating the diversity that exists in people: different backgrounds, personalities, experiences.”

Leadership in action: Elliot doesn’t just talk the talk when it comes to being a leader. Well, in this photo he is talking, but you get what I mean.

Elliot is studying Law at Monash University in Prato, Italy, which means I’m awake at midnight to catch him in his mid-afternoon break. Despite the grainy picture and tinny audio, I can sense his positive energy, his passion and drive.

I’d assumed that presenting to high school students for Elevate Education and volunteering as a mentor to underprivileged youth with the Reach Foundation would have given him insight into what it takes to be an effective leader, but I wasn’t prepared for his take on leadership: being a great leader doesn’t depend on the individual, but how they relate to their followers on a personal level.

What does it mean to relate on a personal level? And how exactly does that make someone a ‘leader’?

We all have relationships; friends, family, acquaintances, that one guy on Facebook who we don’t even remember meeting but always invites us to play Farmville (seriously, who even plays Farmville anymore??). We know how to relate to people (sometimes), but does that mean we’re all leaders?

Economist Otto Scharmer believes that lack of listening lies at the heart of leadership failure. Scharmer’s listening isn’t just about sound waves though.

He says that the deepest level of listening is about connecting to the emerging future self of the person you’re listening to (pretty intense, but bear with me here). 

This entire video is great, but if you're short on time the most important stuff is from 6:36 onward. For the full course that this lecture is drawn from, click here.

That video was full-on, so I’m going ignore the rules and give you the Joke of the Post early this time!

This Joke of the Post brought to you by Elliot Newman and OtakuDC3K1

Now back to the serious stuff...

So it turns out great leaders don’t only see you in terms of your past, but in terms of your highest future possibility. Sounds great, but how do we aspiring leaders learn to see the latent potential in those around us?

“ At 11,  I didn’t really value myself,” Elliot tells me. “I didn’t think there was much I could accomplish. Mr Hannon, my grade six teacher, completely changed my outlook. He made everyone in the class feel special.”  His family supported him, but Mr Hannon was the first person who connected him to his potential; to the remarkable person he could become.

Elliot describes the enthusiasm he felt when speaking to Mr Hannon, like the energy boost Otto Scharmer identifies: “You’re just happy that he’s there to talk to you”.

As Elliot redirects the conversation to ask me about what I’m doing at Uni, I can sense that he has something of Mr Hannon’s almost magical ability to uncover another person’s greatest  self. Without realising it, he’s absorbed this skill, and reflected it back, moving one step closer to the version of himself Mr Hannon sensed in him more than ten years ago.  

Heifetz, Grashow & Linsky write in The Practice of Adaptive Leadership that connecting with others on a deep, personal level is an essential tool for successful leadership. Maybe when we’re talking about a person, the “song beneath the words” (2009) is the highest possible self buried within.

                                

“Being a leader is being able to foster leadership in others and making them feel comfortable and confident in what they’re doing. ”When you engage someone by connecting them to their emerging future self, you’re boosting their confidence and unlocking their vast untapped potential.

Elliot knows that in leadership, like in life, “there’s no better value than the relationships you create.” True leadership stems from our connection to others. When you listen at the deepest level and uncover another person’s best possible self, “leadership shifts from ‘me’ to ‘we’... leadership is about more than just one person, leadership is also about the future.” (Shankman and Allen 2013)

Just before we end the call, Elliot tells me that he’s sure I’ll write a fantastic blog post.

I don’t doubt him for a second.

References:

Heifetz, R, Grashow, A & Linsky, M 2009, The practice of adaptive leadership. Tools and tactics for changing your organization and the world, Harvard Business Review Press, Boston

Shankman, ML & Allen, SJ 2008, Emotionally intelligent leadership: a guide for college students, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco

What is Digital Leadership?

Approximately 34.3 hours ago, Digital Leadership was a mysterious and frightening concept, one that lurked in a world I was not familiar with. 

Having signed up for LinkedIn only a week before, and still falling embarrassingly short of 100 Twitter followers, I didn’t, and still don’t, consider myself  digitally savvy. But in a technical sense, at least I’m on my way.

Twitter
These logos still strike fear and confusion into my heart

LinkedIn

For the purposes of this post, I’ll explore the more interesting adaptive face of this digital frontier.
I've always seen the internet as a procrastination-trap, a time-waster, the biggest drain on my productivity since my discovery of TV. Sure, it was useful to keep in contact with friends and news from around the world, but by and large I didn't appreciate the digital world’s full potential.

Reading Schmidt and Cohen’s chapter on 'Revolutions of the Future' from their book New Digital Age, I began to realise that “the online world offers new possibilities for...branding” (2014), as well as fostering instantaneous, profound transfer of knowledge across the globe.

Schmidt and Cohen’s idea that a mass community cannot produce unique and sustainable leadership (2014)  made me realise that digital leadership means bringing your personal leadership philosophy, ethical framework and authentic personality into the digital sphere.

Exploring the worlds of Elise Andrew (IFLScience) and Ed Yong (Not Exactly Rocket Science) reinforced my newfound appreciation of both the scope of the digital science community and the potential for profound accomplishments. Garnering the support of 20 million people from around the world, or broadcasting amazing discoveries about whales’ facial nerves is impossible without the immediacy and freedom from physical boundaries that the digital world offers.

What do you think? Is the internet a help or a hindrance to the development of Leadership, and humanity as a whole? Comment your thoughts! 

Joke of the Post (from Imagining the Internet): One day a mom noticed that when her son was logging onto a favorite website he typed a very long password. She asked him what it was, and he replied, "MickeyMinnieGoofyPluto." She asked him why he would use such a password. "Because," he explained, "it says your password has to have at least four characters!"

Why Does the Government Ignore its Own Experts?

Ever had an epiphany at a family dinner?

My uncle Narrim was telling me about a speech he’d heard by Peter Harris, chairman of the Productivity Commission (more info here). Harris was lamenting the government’s failure to heed the Commission’s carefully considered economic advice . According to Harris, Australia’s economic forecast could be dramatically brightened by simply raising the pension age by 18 months (that’s only a year and a half) It sounds almost too easy, and I was baffled as to why the government hadn’t already implemented this stellar solution.

Narrim believed  the government wasn’t  following  through because the public’s reaction would be outrage (the public’s default emotion when it comes to the government). Makes sense, I thought to myself. People want their money sooner rather than later. But can’t they see that the smarter decision is to wait? (Yes, I ask rhetorical questions in my head. Deal with it.)

Suddenly the words of Paris Aristotle came to me (learn more about the man behind this amazing name here)  on the ‘wicked challenge’ that is the asylum seeker issue. Paris served on the Prime Minister’s Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers, submitting a report which listed 22 recommendations for addressing this complex and controversial issue. The report contained a vital condition: the recommendations came as a package; all 22 had to be  implemented for the package to have any chance of success.

All 22 recommendations were ‘accepted’, but only a handful were acted upon.  Clearly the government wasn't getting the Panel’s message. Or maybe they didn't want to ...

All asylum seekers are human beings. So why can’t the government treat them as such?

Using Heifetz, Grashow & Linsky’s (2009) idea of avoiding the default interpretation (politicians are dumb and too pretentious to take advice, even from experts), Narrim and  I considered whether politicians are too short-sighted( only thinking as far ahead as the next election) and  too scared to make  unpopular decisions in case it  lost them votes (and their seat and then they wouldn’t be able to sit around for another three years worrying about unpopular decisions).

So where do we go from here? Are we trapped in a cruel cycle of citizens who want governments to act and governments frozen by fear of what people will say if they do act?

Yes.

Kind of...

But there’s a way out. Here’s my epiphany:  What we need is a government that can communicate its purpose.

That’s not as simple as it sounds. Some of us might think the government’s purpose is to make its citizens happy. Others might believe that a government should do what’s best for the ‘national interest’. Politicians might feel that their job is to get re-elected. None of these perspectives are clearly defined, and they will probably clash on many levels.

Adaptive change always requires some form of loss, but tackling the sense of disequilibrium and discomfort this loss brings is the key to ensuring that necessary change isn’t stymied by knee-jerk reactions of fear and panic (Heifetz, R, Grashow, A & Linsky, M 2009).

I don’t think politicians are morally superior to you or me. So if they are making policy that has been recommended by experts, for the benefit of all Australians, then shouldn’t all Australians be able to understand that this is the right way to go?

The government should be “helping people to navigate through a period of disturbance” (Heifetz, R, Grashow, A & Linsky, M 2009) when big decisions mean that some of us face real loss. I think the best way for politicians to help us is painfully simple: they need to communicate their purpose more effectively.

Heifetz, Grashow & Linsky (2009) remind us that when tough decisions loom and the answers aren’t obvious, defining a shared purpose can restore motivation, direction and cooperation.

I’m sure you’d agree to the pension age increase if you understood that it was the best way to ensure Australia’s economic viability for years to come (good luck collecting your pension if the government’s broke). And I think you’d probably realise that an upgraded quota of refugee visas, along with 21 other improvements, is vital in making sure Australia is a good global citizen and does its best to give everyone a fair go (after all, our national anthem states “For those who've come across the seas, We’ve boundless plains to share”).

It shouldn’t come as much of a shock that the government and the citizens have a shared purpose, but it is imperative that we all connect to this shared purpose in the hope of driving positive change for our country, and for the world.

A glowing example of a politician making real change by connecting to purpose, in this case protecting those on the lower rungs of the ladder of society

Joke of the Post (from Arthur 'Bugs' Baer) : 

It was so quiet, you could hear a pun drop.

(I know it's not super related, but I figured you've heard enough about adaptive leadership for today!)

References:

Heifetz, R, Grashow, A & Linsky, M 2009, The practice of adaptive leadership. Tools and tactics for changing your organization and the world, Harvard Business Review Press, Boston

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance_Australia_Fair#Lyrics