“What does great leadership look like?...It’s hard to think of a time since World War II when the question of what makes a good leader was more central,” is how The New York Times column from Pulitzer Prize winning author and commenter Thomas Friedman begins.
“It’s not easy leading anything today, but what do the best leaders have in common?” This question is among a series of seven questions about leadership Friedman asked of Dov Seidman, LRN’s founder and chairman.
Businesses worldwide are wrestling with the issues emanating from COVID-19, and there are no precedents, no scenario-planning exercises, no management playbook to guide them.
Seidman puts forth in the article a new framework to help business leaders break through the fog they are experiencing in the fight against the virus, a framework for thinking, deciding, and behaving in ways which will help leaders navigate for their companies and the people who depend upon them.
Never has the phrase, “We are all in this together,” rung more true. No one needs to look further than the Twitter conversation this article sparked to see that sentiment play out in real time. Here are the six elements of the leadership playbook that seem to resonate most with people:
- Great leaders trust people with truth. Trust is the only legal performance-enhancing drug. Good things happen whenever there is more trust in a company, country, or community.
- It takes hope to overcome great fear and meet challenges. Hope comes from seeing your leader lead in a way that brings out the best in people by inspiring collaboration, common purpose and future possibilities.
- Humble leaders create the space for others to do big things--together.
- The strongest leaders will be the ones who collaborate and operate with values and humanity at the center of decision-making.
- Leaders reflect in this global pause to reimagine how we want to live differently.
- Good leaders pivot, anchored in deep human values, then move in the new directions we’ll need in a post-pandemic world.
Great Leaders Trust People with the Truth
It takes hope to overcome great fear and meet great challenges.
Humble leaders create the space for others to do big things—together.
The strongest leaders will be the ones who collaborate with others and operate with values and humanity at the center of decision making.
Leaders reflect and reimagine how we want to live differently.
Good leaders pivot, anchored in deep human values.
Read the full article here.