There's a story of how two leaders reacted when they received an award in
recognition of what they had achieved. In one scenario a leader goes up to the
podium and accepts his award and in his speech he shares with the audience what
he had achieved in the time that he became leader in the position he was at
this organization what he brought to the team what was his influence on getting
the team from where was to where it is today and now we see an award in
recognition of that hard work. In another scenario, a second leader also accepts
award, however in the speech he gives to the audience he gives a very different
one. In this speech, he says to the audience my team is somewhere in this
room, there they are, at the back there, can you please stand up. So he gets his
team to stand up and he gets the audience to focus on his team and to
give the team a round of applause. After the audience sits down, he then says to
the entire auditorium he says, I wouldn't be standing here if it wasn't for the
contributions of my team, I wouldn't be here accepting this award if it wasn't
for the input that they've had in this success together, because it's not about
me, it's about us, it's about together the team what we have achieved and I'm here
representing this team in accepting this award, so on behalf of myself and my team
thank you very much for this recognition. Now if you were working in one of these
teams which one would you prefer to work in now clearly the second one, because
when you are working the second team you are recognized, you are appreciated and
you feel you are part of a family in which you can express your best selves,
and be recognized by your leader for it. You see, for me true leadership is not
about telling someone what to do, that is what managers do, and anyone can become a
manager, anyone can be given the title of manager,
but to be seen as a leader that is something other people credit you with,
and true leadership starts with the ability to create more leaders and the
ability to create more leaders comes from your ability to cultivate an
environment, a safe space, in which your employees your team can show up to work
as their best selves to contribute their strengths to contribute their innovative
ideas to contribute some of the things that you hired them for. That is one of
the most powerful roles as a leader. You see, many people get promoted in an
organization because of their IQ, but get fired because of their lack of EQ. So
EQ becomes a far more powerful skill as we move up in an organization and
take more leadership roles. As part of that, what is an important skill for true
leaders to embrace is self-awareness, you see without self-awareness you don't
know what to improve on, you don't know how you can get better, and leaders are
always focused on getting better so that they can serve their team better. Because
as I said earlier, it's not about you, it's about the team, it is your ability
to bring these people together, to make them happy. Because in a happy fulfilled
team, they are able to not only contribute more but deliver excellent customer
service, and when you have happier clients, then guess what, you have happier
shareholders and everyone else in the organization profits as well. That
organization benefits at all levels, just imagine every single person from the
most junior to the most senior, showing up at work acting like leaders. That is
a very powerful visualization to imagine. So, if you are a leader or you're looking
to improve your leadership skills, one, it's about thinking how can you raise
yourself awareness, two, how can you cultivate a space in which your team can
show up as their best selves, and three, how are you creating an environment
in which happiness levels are higher, you know Shawn Achor touches on this and his
TED talk about happiness being a new productivity and also in Daniel Pink's
book Drive, he touches on mastery autonomy and purpose being important
drivers for people's productivity and fulfillment. Purpose being, can I buy into
the vision of the organization, do I actually know what the vision of this
organization is? What is its purpose? Autonomy, am I allowed to get on with
what I've been asked to do? Or am I micromanaged? Do I have the space so that
I can give my best work to this company. And third, is mastery, do I have the
ability to master my craft to fully develop into the person I know I can
become? So that I can deliver better and better work for the company. Thank you
very much for listening! I hope you've got some insightful thoughts and ideas
about leadership in this video, and leave a comment below, I'd love to hear your
thoughts and feedback as always and make sure to give it a thumbs up and I'll see
in the next video. Thank you very much!